 Born in Pryluky, a city in the Chernihiv Oblast (province) of present-day north-central Ukraine (at the time a part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), Oleg Koshevoy's family moved south to Rzhyshchiv and Poltava before settling in Krasnodon (at the eastern border of Ukraine) in 1940, where he attended secondary school.In July 1942, Krasnodon was occupied by the German Army.Under the leadership of the party underground, Koshevoy organized an anti-nazi Komsomol (Communist Youth) organization called the "Young Guard" (, translit.