Andrii A. Kostiuk (Voron)

36-year-old machine gunner Andriy Kostyuk (call sign Raven) was killed on August 30, 2022 in the area of the village of Nesterіanka, Zaporizhia region. After the attack on the settlement, the commander ordered a retreat to the forest belt. At midnight, mortar shelling began, as a result of which a fragment pierced Raven's carotid artery, and he was killed within seconds. Andriy was born in the village of Hluhivtsi in Vinnytsia region. He obtained the profession of a builder of monolithic structures at the Vinnytsia Construction Technical School, worked in his specialty, and had his own construction team. He built houses in his native village, Kyiv, and Vinnytsia. After the start of the full-scale invasion, Andriy joined the ranks of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade and went to war. "He was the best person on the whole planet. I can't imagine how to live without him, if not for the children... We lived together for 15 happy years, built a house, had two wonderful children, lived for the future, and in one day everything turned upside down. Before going to the military enlistment office, he said: 'It's better if I go now, rather than in a few years our son'," his wife Halyna said. "Andriy was a courageous warrior and patriot, he went to defend his family, his Homeland, and all of us from the first days of the war. And he was also the best son, husband, father and friend, the brightest person. Fair, kind, balanced, calm. His friends and acquaintances will remember him as cheerful and smiling. That's how he always was," the Hluhivtsi community noted. The defender was buried in his native village in Vinnytsia region. Andriy is survived by his parents, wife, son and daughter.