Vasily Zyulkovsky was born on January 14, 1913 in the village of Topaly (now the Kotovsky district of the Odessa region of Ukraine). In 1936-1938 he served in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, graduated from a military school. In 1940, Zyulkovsky was re-drafted into the army .. He took part in battles on the South, South-West, North Caucasian, Donskoy, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts. Participated in the defense of Odessa, the battle for the Caucasus, the Battle of Stalingrad, the liberation of the Ukrainian and Moldavian SSR, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria. During the war, he was wounded 8 times, 3 of which were severe. By November 1944, Guard Captain Vasily Zyulkovsky served in the 341st Separate Sapper Battalion of the 233rd Infantry Division. Distinguished himself during the crossing of the Danube [1]. On the night of 5-6 November 1944, Zyulkovsky, at the head of a group of fighters under enemy fire, crossed the Danube near the city of Vatina. Zyulkovsky's group successfully conducted reconnaissance and captured a bridgehead on the opposite bank, knocking the enemy out of the trench he occupied. After the approach of the advanced units of the division, Zyulkovsky returned to command and reported the results of reconnaissance, thanks to which he was able to make the right decision about the crossing. At one of the nearby quays, Zyulkovsky's group found 7 barges, 3 boats and 45 boats. Thanks to this, it was able to ferry 2 rifle regiments, 1 anti-tank battalion and 1 mortar regiment. When the battalion commander died on November 12 and a divisional engineer was seriously wounded, Zyulkovsky replaced both of them, ensuring the successful crossing of the 75th Rifle Corps units. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on March 24, 1945, Captain Vasily Zyulkovsky was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal numbered 5453. In 1946 Zyulkovsky was transferred to the reserve. He lived in Sochi, then in Kotovsk and Balashov, worked in the catering systems of these cities. Died July 9, 1966