Roman M. Skakovskyi (Monakh)

Roman was a professional military man. After graduating from the State University of Information and Communication Technologies, he studied at a military academy. He participated in joint exercises of NATO member countries and Ukraine in Poland, Germany, and Lithuania. He served in a UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, and in March 2014, as part of the 80th Airborne Brigade, he went to the ATO zone. Mykola Skakovskyi, Roman's father: "My son was very principled and independent; at 18, he went to serve as a conscript, remained in the army under contract, and in March of this year, he was sent to the ATO as part of the 80th SABr. As a squad commander, he fought in Sloviansk, Yampil, and Krasnyi Lyman. And, you know, he never said that it was hard or scary there. 'Everything is fine,' we heard in response. On August 24, Independence Day, during the defense of Luhansk airport, he lost the wrist of his left hand and was wounded in the abdomen… His combat friends Vitaliy and Yuriy saved him from death, carrying the wounded Roman from a dangerous area and handing him over to the doctors. Our daughter-in-law Ira was meanwhile waiting for the birth of their first child, whom, at Roman's wish, they were to name Vitaliy in honor of one of the rescuers." After the injury, according to his father, Roman was immediately given first aid, his hand was amputated, and the next day, when he was transferred to a Kharkiv hospital, he underwent surgery on his abdominal cavity. Several operations were performed. The soldier even began to recover. "After our son was transferred to the Lviv military hospital, he felt satisfactory. We comforted ourselves with the fact that he was under the close supervision of professional doctors and that he would definitely be cured. We prayed and did not lose hope for a second that everything would be fine… However, unexpectedly, complications began in the abdominal cavity, after which he underwent about a dozen more operations. For over a month, the doctors fought for his life, but they could not save him… On September 27, Roman passed away. Although we long comforted ourselves with the hope that everything was fine, the worst was behind us. We thought, we will buy a prosthesis, we will wait for the grandson, life goes on…" the father recounts, barely holding back tears. After the funeral of their son, the only hope left for this family was the birth of the baby. "Until recently, everything was fine; he was supposed to be born in the first days of November. But suddenly, the young mother felt that something was wrong with the baby and immediately sought help from specialists. After the gynecologist's examination, we were assured that there were no reasons for concern and that there was no threat to the baby… They calmed us… Assured us… Sent us home… And a few days ago, on October 13, we learned that there would be no granddaughter — the fetus had died in the mother's womb," the grieving grandfather recounts. "And how do we live with this now?"