After graduating from school, Maksym chose a military profession: like his father and grandfather, he graduated from the Military Institute of Telecommunications and Informatization of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and began his service in military intelligence units.
From the beginning of the russian armed aggression, Maksym Mykhailovych conducted the mission of defending the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine on the territory of the anti-terrorist operation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. He participated in the heaviest battles of 2014-2015.
In May 2014, he commanded the group that liberated the Donetsk airport, and was among those servicemen whom even the enemy, impressed by their fearlessness and resilience, called Cyborgs.
Colonel Shapoval got killed on June 27, 2017 as a result of a daring terrorist act planned by russian special services.
Maksym Shapoval was awarded the military rank of major general and the title of Hero of Ukraine with the Golden Star Order posthumously.