We will not forget

In spite of the announced peace truce, we continue to lose our defenders: the advisor     of the president and leader of the volunteer organization “Wings of Phoenix” Yurii Biriukov reported on his Facebook page that seven servicemen of the 79th Airmobile Brigade were killed as a result of the shelling of the Donetsk airport. And recently the spokesman of the Information-Analytical Center of NSDC Andrii Lysenko told journalists that at the moment the exact number of servicemen killed during the ATO is unknown, “because the identification of the bodies found near Ilovaisk is still underway. Apart from that, the general center of identification has started to operate and we have already received several hundreds of appeals,” UNIAN quoted him as saying. We continue to tell the stories of men who gave their lives, defending us from the attack of the aggressor: soldier of the 30th Detached Mechanized Brigade Yan Damansky from Zhytomyr region; Chernihiv-born Vitalii Riaby, a serviceman of the 1st Guard Tank Brigade; and Aidar Battalion soldier Vasyl Bilyk from Ivano-Frankivsk region.

He was going to get married soon

23-year-old Yan Damansky was killed on August 13 during the battles near Savur-Mohyla

Residents of Korosten raion in Zhytomyr oblast bid last adieu to 23-year-old Yan Damansky a resident of Nova Ushytsia who was killed in the ATO area. The courageous soldier of the 30th Mechanized Brigade was killed in the fierce battles near Savur-Mohyla in Donetsk oblast. The connection with him broke on the night of August 12, and for several weeks he was considered missing. His relatives hoped he was alive. Suddenly somebody called his mother from Yan’s number. But the voice she heard was not his. She was told to go to Dnipropetrovsk to identify the body of her son. His phone was in his armored vest, and when it was charged, they called his mother. Later it was established that he died on August 13 during the battle. His relatives could not believe in the irreparable loss, their loving hearts could not put up with the fact that the light-eyed Yan is no more alive. The happy moment never came to his fiancee. When in May Yan came on leave, he made a proposal of marriage to the girl. People in the village were getting ready for the wedding. But a fatal thing happened.

Many people, including relatives, friends, fellow servicemen, colleagues, representatives of the raion and municipal authorities and all those who wanted to pay the last tribute to the soldier who defended the independence and integrity of our state in the east of Ukraine, came to the funeral. I learned from his fellow villagers that after graduating from school Yan studied in the Holovyne Higher Vocational School. In 2010 he was called up for regular military service. On return he worked at the Ushytsia Industrial Complex of Construction Materials. And on March 30 Yan Damansky was mobilized to the 30th Novohrad-Volynsk Mechanized Brigade. The 23-year-old soldier took part in the antiterrorist operation in the east of Ukraine with this brigade.

Yan Damansky was buried with all military honors. Before that a funeral service was held in the church. Yan will be remembered by his relatives, friends, and fellow villagers as a kind, sincere, sociable, light man. He had many plans and dreamed to create a family of his own. Yan Damansky will always be a real hero who defended the independence of Ukraine in the east, so that the war did not proceed further. Eternal glory to him.

By Oksana KLYMCHUK, Zhytomyr oblast

A soldier with big heart

Vitalii Riaby was killed on September 7 during the “peace truce”

A family of kittens lived in his armored personnel carrier. He loved animals and defended the weak. The soldiers found these unfortunate kittens near one of the populated centers in Luhansk oblast after a fierce battle with separatist. The soldiers called them “Children of War.”

The kittens, who were the size of the soldier’s hand, were trying to get some milk from their mother, but their mother was already dead. The soldiers took these “children of war” to their battle vehicle. They shared their food with the kittens and even bought milk for them. But the kittens who became accustomed to the roar of shells did not have luck to grow up. Two weeks later they were killed. The Ukrainian army was retreating, and during the retreat the BTR of Chernihiv members of the tank crew was blasted. The kittens together with the driver of the battle vehicle were killed. Vitalii Riaby was severely injured, and several hours later he died because of traumas and loss of blood.

The body of the soldier of the First Guard Tank Brigade Vitalii Riaby was brought to Chernihiv by a special flight on the third day after his death. It happened on September 7 during the so-called “peace truce.”

Another resident of Chernihiv, soldier of the First Guard Tank Brigade Serhii Bohukhalets stayed in the Donbas for three months, including two months in the Luhansk airport. He and Vitalii Riaby knew each other before the war: they both took part in civil movements and Maidan events. Although they served in the same brigade, they met one another only once. And this meeting turned out to be the last for them.

“I made the photo with a kitten on the armored personnel vehicle on September 4 in Shchastia, Luhansk oblast, during the regrouping of the First Guard Tank Brigade. Three days later Vitalii was killed. He died of bullet wounds in the chest and in the shoulder,” the soldier recalls.

Together with his body the bodies of two other soldiers who served in the voluntary battalion Aidar were brought to Chernihiv. His funeral was the first time when a coffin with a warrior was brought along the central avenue from St. Catherine Church to the Red Square.

There are blue-and-yellow flags above the special section at the city cemetery where the perished soldiers are buried. There is a whole alley of graves of Chernihiv residents. There are as many of them over several months of war as Afghan soldiers. On the whole, by estimates of volunteers, Chernihiv region has lost over 50 lives since the beginning of war. Taking into account those who are missing, this figure is rising.

By Vitalii NAZARENKO, Chernihiv