Ivan O. Kutiuhov (Vorchun)

43-year-old Sergeant Ivan Kutyuhov (call sign Grumbler) was killed on February 11, 2024, while carrying out a combat mission near the village of Vodiane in the Donetsk region. He was killed by an enemy bullet. Ivan was born in the Kherson region, on the shores of the Kakhovka Reservoir. He was the youngest of five children in the family. He finished school and then joined the army, rising to the rank of sergeant. He later worked various jobs: a security guard in the district administration, a livestock worker on farms, and a firefighter at the nuclear power plant in Energodar. He started his own family very young, at the age of 21, with his chosen partner Nadiya, who was 17. This marriage lasted a lifetime. The couple raised two sons: Ivan and Oleksiy. Ivan loved fishing, going to the sea with his family, and was passionate about garden plants, especially roses. Before the war, he and his wife planted 30 rose bushes and many fir trees. "He was very kind, caring, and cheerful. I lost my father at 16, and Vanya was able to partially replace him. The children loved him very much - his own and his godchildren-nephews," says his wife Nadiya. When the full-scale war began, the Kherson region found itself under occupation. The family decided not to risk their own safety, so in August 2022 they left everything behind and moved to Zaporizhzhia. There, Ivan got a job at "Nova Poshta". In February 2023, he received a summons and went to serve. He underwent training and later went to defend the Donetsk region. He served in the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was a rifleman-radio operator. In the summer, he also mastered sniper skills. "Lately, he had changed a lot, became secretive. He never cried before, but here he would remember his comrades-in-arms and sob. He was supposed to receive an award before the second anniversary of the invasion, but didn't make it. He understood that he would not return home, he saw how intense the fighting had become. On the eve of his death, he called a friend and asked him to tell his wife and children that he loved them very much when he was gone," adds his wife. Ivan really wanted to buy a house and a car. In his last conversation with his wife, he asked if she had found a good house that he liked. But she didn't have time. The defender left behind a wife, two children, and a large loving family.