Valerii O. Vostrikov (Rahnar)

Artilleryman Valeriy Vostrikov (call sign Ragnar) was killed on July 19, 2023 in combat with the enemy near the settlement of Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk region. The defender was 25 years old. Valeriy was from the city of Zaporizhzhia. He studied at school No. 85. In 2017, he graduated from the Zaporizhzhia Metallurgical College. He served in the military. For a long time, he worked at the Zaporizhstal plant. In 2022, he enrolled in the 2nd year of the part-time form of the Kyiv University of Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. When the full-scale war began, the man went to defend his homeland. At first, he served in the Territorial Defense Forces, and from June 2022 he fought in the ranks of the 406th separate artillery brigade named after General-Ensign Oleksiy Almazov. He was a gun commander. Together with his comrades-in-arms, he defended the Kherson, Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions. "This is an extraordinary person, the best of the best, modest and sincere, always thinking about everyone around him, ready to give the last to help. Everyone loved and adored him, there is no one who would treat Valera badly, he always evoked good feelings in everyone. I am proud to be his choice in this life and to bear his surname. We very much wanted children, we were very much looking forward to our victory, to travel around Ukraine together. Valera very much wanted to show the landscapes of Ukraine to his children and tell many stories that were lived through the war. His dream was to gather families with his comrades-in-arms and travel to the Ukrainian Crimea, Zalizny Port, Berdyansk, to visit every deoccupied piece of land. He always said that in the war he would fight to the last... Valhalla or victory..." - said the wife of the fallen warrior Olga. The defender was buried in his hometown. At home, Valeriy was awaited by his parents, two younger brothers, his wife and a large family.