Kobysh Panas and Uliana 

Panas and Uliana Kobysh with their 14-year-old son Mykola and 10-year-old Ivan lived in the village of Zhytne in the Sumy region. Panas worked at the railway station, Uliana was a housewife. In the fall of 1941, Nazi rule was established, and the extermination of the Jewish population began almost immediately. Jews were driven from the surrounding villages to Romny, where the occupiers set up a ghetto. On November 10, 1941, a mass "Jewish action" was conducted in the city. No fewer than 1,233 Jews were shot in ravines on the outskirts of Romny.

That autumn evening, a stranger came to the Kobyshes’ house with a baby in her arms and asked for a shelter for one night. In desperation, she told the owners that her name was Ester Barash and that a German soldier had helped her to escape from the forest in Romny before the mass execution of Jews. Her parents and sisters remained there. The woman asked the Ukrainian family to take her daughter for a while until she found a safe shelter. The next day, Ester left and disappeared without a trace. The sudden appearance of a new child aroused suspicion, but none of the neighbors reported about the Kobyshes. The family informed occupation authorities that Halyna (the new girl's name) was their third child. Panas and Uliana took care of the child as relatives until the end of the occupation. Since no one came for Halyna, Panas and Uliana officially adopted her.

After the war, the sister of Halyna’s mother suddenly turned up and wanted to take the baby back. The aunt told the girl that she was Jewish and persuaded her to go with her to Kyiv. There Halyna met other relatives and learned that her father had died at the front. Despite all the attempts of the new family to do everything to make the girl feel at home, Halyna missed her stepparents and begged to return her to those whom she had already come to love and called "dad" and "mom".

A year later, Halyna returned to the Kobyshes and stayed with them until marriage. Having no memories about her mother and father, all her life she considered Panas and Uliana as her parents, and Mykola and Ivan as her brothers.

"I am already 61 years old, but all my life I have been keeping these sincere feelings of gratitude to Panas and Uliana for saving my life during the war…". From the memoirs of Halyna Kobysh

On January 19, 1995, Panas and Uliana Kobysh were awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations.