Ruslan A. Samarchenko (Samara)

The fighter of the Territorial Defense Forces Ruslan Samarchenko (call sign Samara) was killed on April 6, 2023, defending the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region from the occupiers. The warrior was 41 years old. Ruslan was born in the Bakhchisarai district in Crimea. After the parents' divorce, he moved with his mother to the Kharkiv region, where she was from. He spent his childhood there and graduated from school. Later, he obtained a technical education. He worked in the real estate and construction industry as a foreman. Throughout his life, he was engaged in sports. With the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the man joined the ranks of the Kharkiv Territorial Defense Forces. He served in the 225th battalion of the 127th separate brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He participated in the defense of his native Kharkiv region and later moved to the Donetsk region. "Ruslan was very brave and fearless. He loved life, and life loved him. He was the best of the best. He always protected the weaker ones. He volunteered from the very beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. When they told me that your heart had stopped beating, my heart stopped with it. They say time will heal, but for me, time has stopped forever. The love of my whole life..." - wrote the wife of the fallen. The defender was buried in the village of Antonivka in the Kharkiv region. At home, Ruslan was awaited by his wife Polina and daughter Milana.