Vitalii O. Taranin (Taran)

Vitaliy Oleksandrovych Taranin was born on October 16, 1986 in the city of Krasnohorivka, Pokrovsk district, in the Donetsk region. With the start of the war in Eastern Ukraine, together with his family, he left his hometown for the city of Mariupol on June 15, 2014. On August 30, 2014, he came to the Azov battalion as a volunteer, together with his mother and future wife. In December 2014, he joined the ranks of the Azov battalion, holding the position of driver of the automobile company. Later, he took the position of finance chief in the regiment. With the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he was at the forefront - he participated in the battles for the city of Mariupol. On March 13, 2022, he was seriously wounded in one of the battles. He was treated in the improvised bunker hospital of Azovstal. He died on April 15, 2022 as a result of the dropping of a three-ton bomb on the hospital of the Azovstal plant.