Taras Yu. Melster

31-year-old soldier Taras Melster was killed in action on June 21, 2022, during a combat mission near the village of Borivske, Luhansk region. His wife Olga with him. Taras Melster was born and lived in Kirovohrad (now Kropyvnytskyi). From childhood, he showed a keen interest in modern technologies and at the age of 12, he assembled his first computer. In 2020, he received a higher education in the specialty "Electrotechnical Systems of Electric Power Consumption". He worked for an international company, developing in the field of IT marketing. "There were many positive traits in his character. He is the one who can always lift the mood, support, and find the right words. Taras had many friends and good acquaintances, he was very communicative. He was very responsible and sensitive, striving to help everyone who needed protection, even those he didn't know," said Lyudmila, Taras's mother. He was acquainted with his future wife Olya since school. Together, they implemented environmental projects, befriended. As they grew older, they realized that they had true love between them. "Olya was very creative, and Taras had a technical mindset. Their relationship was filled with harmony, energy, which helped them. Olya had the idea of baking gingerbread. None of the close ones believed that this could be turned into a serious business. Only Taras supported her. And it all worked out! This was a union of two people who really complemented each other. They also had one common love - travel. They met the year 2022 in Finland, realized their childhood dream. They planned to build a big house where their children would grow up," said Lyudmila. On February 24, 2022, Taras's father called him in the morning and said that the war had started. At 9:00, he arrived at his parents', brought his favorite dog - a Tibetan mastiff Mika. Then he went to the military commissariat, wanted to join the Ukrainian army. He was refused because Taras had never been in the military and did not know how to use weapons. Without losing time, he turned to the territorial defense and already stood up for Ukraine. "Olya couldn't let him go alone... We persuaded her to stay, but she knew for sure that she had to be with Taras. She joined the same unit where Taras was. 'We grew up, learned, lived happily together. If it happens, then we will die together,' Olya said before leaving for Sievierodonetsk. I don't know how to live, how to learn to live with this pain, when children are deprived of their future, and me - of the meaning of life. But I look up at the sky and see my son's eyes. And again, I cannot hold back tears," added Taras's mother. The couple was buried together at the Far Eastern Cemetery in Kropyvnytskyi. Taras left behind his parents, as well as his beloved Mika. In 2023, Taras and Olga Melster were posthumously awarded the Order "For Courage" of the III degree.