Ivan V. Tkachuk

Soldier Ivan Tkachuk was killed on March 11, 2023, while defending the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region from the occupiers. The fighter received fatal injuries during enemy artillery shelling. The defender was 35 years old. Ivan was born and lived in the village of Antonivka, Rivne region. He obtained the profession of tractor mechanic at the Sarny Higher Vocational School No. 21. He spent most of his life working as a driver at the Volodymyrets Forestry. Automobiles were his greatest passion. With the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ivan went to the military enlistment office as a volunteer. He joined the ranks of the 104th separate brigade of the territorial defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He held the position of driver of the rifle platoon. "Vanya was my older brother, friend, support and pillar. His heart always strived to take care of someone, forgetting about himself. First, he raised me with my brothers, later - his own children. He was hardworking, an excellent host and a wonderful father. He always dreamed of a large family, to whom he gave everything he had. That's why from the first days of the war he went to defend his home. He sustained a knee injury in the village of Makariv, Kyiv region, but after surgery and rehabilitation, he immediately returned to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A year after the injury, he was killed in Bakhmut. He took a part of each of our hearts with him, leaving only pain and sorrow. Love for my brother and the pain with which I will have to learn to live will always live in my heart," said the deceased's sister Viktoria. The defender was buried in his native village. Ivan is survived by his parents, stepfather, two brothers, two sisters, three daughters and a son.