Ruslan R. Soltys (Pozytyv)

Junior Sergeant Ruslan Soltys (call sign Positive) was killed on January 16, 2023 near the city of Kreminna in the Luhansk region. During the performance of a combat mission, the warrior received a fatal injury as a result of a mortar shelling. The defender remained forever 42 years old. Ruslan was born in the village of Vyazova in the Lviv region. He studied at the Smerekivska secondary school, and then graduated from Lviv Higher Vocational School No. 52, where he obtained the specialty of locomotive driver's assistant. He served in the army and received the rank of junior sergeant. In 2005, he got married and moved to the village of Zabuzhzhia. He worked at the Lviv Petrol gas station, as well as in other jobs related to the construction industry. He loved fishing and football. In early July 2022, Ruslan voluntarily took up the defense of Ukraine. He joined the ranks of the 103rd separate brigade of territorial defense. He served in the 62nd battalion, was the commander of the anti-aircraft machine gun unit. He carried out combat missions in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Together with his comrades-in-arms, he liberated Dibrova and Lyman. He carried out combat missions near Svatove and Kreminna. "My son was kind, sincere, cheerful, always in a positive mood. He loved his family, was the soul of the company. He had many friends in peaceful life and here, in the war, he found great support among his comrades-in-arms. He was brave and courageous, ready to serve, despite the difficulties and risking his life. When they returned from the combat mission, Ruslan loved to say: 'We did it, though it was difficult... Everything will be fine. Everything will be Ukraine.' He also said: 'Whatever happens to me, always remember me as cheerful as I was.' We remember, we grieve, we love. You will always be in our hearts," wrote his mother Hanna Soltys. The defender was buried in the village of Smerekiv, where his childhood and youth passed. At home, Ruslan was awaited by his mother Hanna, sister Olga, wife Oksana, a large family and friends. Ruslan Soltys was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage of the III degree. In the village of Zabuzhzhia, Sokal district, where the warrior lived, a monument to the fallen hero-fellow villagers was erected on August 27, 2023, among them Ruslan Soltys.