A patriotic event in memory of Vasily Egorovich Nikitin, who was awarded the highest State award of the USSR posthumously, was held at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

Vladislav Porublev, a great-grandson, professor of the Department of Parasitology and Veterinary Examination, Anatomy and Pathanatomy named after Professor S.N. Nikolsky, told students about the hero-countryman's combat feat.

Vasily Egorovich Nikitin was born on January 8, 1924 in the village of Spitsevka in the Spitsevsky district of Stavropol Krai (now the Grachevsky District) in a peasant family. He worked as a tractor driver at a local collective farm.

Vasily Nikitin was drafted into the Soviet Army in January 1943. In 1944, he fought the fascists in the Mykolaiv region of the Ukrainian SSR. On March 14, 1994, in a fierce battle, when a group of German infantry, reinforced with tanks and self-propelled guns, launched a counteroffensive, the Guard Cossack Vasily Nikitin, replacing the disabled gunner, rolled the gun into an open firing position at critical moments of the battle and began shooting the Nazis at point-blank range.

Unable to withstand such accurate fire, the German infantry was forced to repeatedly roll back, suffering heavy losses. After several prolonged fierce battles, the Germans managed to occupy the outskirts of the village and bypass the gun. Having fallen into the ring of German machine gunners and being seriously wounded in the stomach, Vasily Nikitin continued to fire at the Germans from the cannon until the last shell.

When the shells ran out, the Germans hoped to take Vasily Nikitin prisoner. But he, having let the fascists get close, began to destroy the enemy with a rifle and throw grenades. And even when the grenades and cartridges ran out, Vasily Nikitin continued to destroy the Nazis, taking the machine gun from a German soldier. The unequal battle lasted 12 hours.

By his perseverance in the fight against the enemy, Vasily Nikitin saved the cannon, destroyed more than 50 Germans and showed boundless devotion to the Soviet state. According to the decision of the military leadership, for his heroic feat, he was presented for the assignment of the highest Government award — the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

Vasily Nikitin's feat is immortalized in the history of the country and his native land. In particular, one of the streets in the village of Spitsevka was named after the Hero. There is also a bust of him in the center of the memorial to fellow countrymen who fell during the Great Patriotic War.