Viacheslav O. Voronyi

Colonel Vyacheslav Vorony was killed on April 5, 2022, during the evacuation of the wounded from the downed Mi-8 helicopter in the village of Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia region. That day, contact was lost with the helicopter returning after a breakthrough to the besieged Mariupol. A rescue helicopter was raised to search for the missing aircraft, which was also shot down by the Russian occupiers. Vyacheslav was 51 years old. He was born in Odesa and lived in the city of Brody in the Lviv region. He graduated from the Saratov Higher Flight School. He was the head of the training group, a first-class pilot, a participant in combat operations and UN peacekeeping missions, and a knight of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd degree. From the first days of the full-scale invasion, he defended the sky over Ukraine. He held the position of crew commander as part of the 16th separate brigade of army aviation "Brody". He took part in the evacuation of the wounded from "Azovstal". "Dad studied English, loved long walks around the city for two to three hours, and also adored listening to audiobooks," his daughter Diana Vorona said. The warrior was buried on the Alley of Glory of the Lukyanivske Cemetery in Kyiv. Vyacheslav is survived by his wife, two daughters, a grandson, a brother, a mother-in-law, and a father-in-law.