Vitalii H. Potaras (Potaras)

Soldier Vitaliy Potaras was killed on January 3, 2023, while carrying out a combat mission near the village of Pavlivka in the Donetsk region. During the evacuation of wounded comrades, the soldier was fatally wounded. The next day, the defender would have turned 46 years old. Vitaliy was born in the village of Velyka Yablunia, Volyn region. He graduated from the International University of Economics and Humanities named after Academician Stepan Demyanchuk in Rivne. He worked in a construction company that was engaged in the restoration of bridges. During the full-scale war, Vitaliy became a serviceman of the 68th Separate Jager Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was a mortar man. "Despite the fact that dad did not serve, he made the decision to defend Ukraine. After training, he was already at the positions in April. We tried to help everyone. With what we passed on to him, he always shared with everyone. He loved to talk. He spoke very well of his comrades-in-arms. When he came on leave, he said that even if he had the opportunity to stay at home, he could not, because he could not leave his comrades-in-arms. Before he was killed, I last talked to him somewhere around 3 in the morning. He said that there he understood how much he wanted to live! And that when the war is over, he will definitely go to his comrade-in-arms who was killed in July to bow his head over his grave. The death of Viktor was painful for him because he was like a brother to him..." said the daughter of the fallen Viktoria. "My brother did not serve in the army, he had no military experience. But he made the firm decision to go to war - in March 2022 he joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was without rotations, he had only one vacation in October 2022, when we, with the family and friends, organized a collection and bought two cars for his company. I love him very much, I am proud of his courage! He was killed along with four more comrades-in-arms, saving a wounded one," added the warrior's sister Lilia. The defender was buried in his native village.