Oleh V. Kytun (Kit)

32-year-old senior lieutenant Oleh Kitun (call sign Kit) was killed on January 18, 2024 near the village of Vilshana in the Kharkiv region. He sustained fatal wounds at his combat position during a small arms firefight and mortar shelling. Oleh was from the village of Velyki Tseptsevychi in the Rivne region. He had been passionate about sports since childhood. While in school, he practiced Greco-Roman wrestling. Later, he continued his education at the boarding lyceum in the city of Berezne, Rivne region. In 2013, he graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education at the Lviv State University of Physical Culture named after Ivan Boberskyi, specializing in Greco-Roman wrestling. He worked as a physical education teacher at a school in the village of Bilska Volya and as a coach at the Varash Children and Youth Sports School and the "MGym" sports club. "During his studies, he persistently improved his athletic skills, which allowed him to earn the first sports rank. He repeatedly became a winner and medalist in regional championships and participated in all-Ukrainian tournaments. Outside the wrestling mat, he was restrained, polite, and friendly, and in everyday life, he was neat and undemanding... With great love, he worked with children in the wrestling sections in the village of Bilska Volya and the city of Volodymyrets, Rivne region, thereby earning the respect and admiration of his students, their parents, and his colleagues," the Lviv University he graduated from reported. During the full-scale war, on May 7, 2022, Oleh became a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Prince Roman. He held the position of reconnaissance platoon commander. He was awarded the medal "Participant of Combat Operations." "Cheerful, with a refined sense of humor, ideological, determined, hardworking, persistent, honest, he loved children, his work, his family, sports, and his Motherland. Oleh did everything he could. Oleh gave everything he had. For Ukraine, for every Ukrainian. Oleh lived a short life, but with dignity," his brother Ivan said. The officer was buried in his native village. Oleh is survived by his parents, brother, sister, and grandfather.