Andrii V. Zahoruiko (Ranger)

Defender Andrii Zahoruyko was killed on November 3, 2022 in battle with the occupiers in the area of the settlement of Spirne in the Donetsk region. The fighter came under enemy mortar and artillery fire and was considered missing for a long time. He would have turned 48 on November 9. Andrii was born in Marinka, Donetsk region. In 1996, he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Mathematics at Donetsk National University. For 8 years he was engaged in teaching. Since 2004, he has been working in television. He was a director, screenwriter and operator. In 2012, he joined the Kyiv TV channel, where within two years he became the author and host of the historical project "Kyiv Stories". He was a participant in the Revolution of Dignity. His passion was football, which he understood at the level of an expert, could name a player and at what minute he scored goals in different years. During the full-scale war, Andrii joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 25th separate rifle battalion. He was in the portable air defense missile systems platoon. "I will not cry for you. Warriors are not mourned. I will mourn. I am proud of you, Brother! There, in the afterlife, you will not be ashamed of me either..." - wrote his brother Vitalii Zahoruyko. "At school, and then at the technical school where we worked together, he earned the nickname Matrix. The red tie was his trademark style. He lived his whole life in a dormitory or in an apartment. Without any special signs of comfort. But for our family, he had the main sign of a good friend. Tall, lonely, Ukrainian-speaking, with a driver's license - "for the future", studying English for the future, shy to the point of blushing cheeks. A person without an apartment, a car, a wife, a mistress. Only he himself. With his qualities of a good person. And that's it... he's gone. He is now forever a part of the soul of Ukraine," wrote his friend Pavlo Kushnir. On February 21, 2023, the warrior was buried at the Lukyanivske Cemetery in Kyiv. Andrii is survived by his parents and brother.