Vitalii O. Yavorskyi (Raptor)

Senior Sergeant Vitaliy Yavorskyi (call sign Raptor) was killed on May 17, 2023, while carrying out a combat mission near the village of Klishchiyivka in the Donetsk region. The defender was 40 years old. Vitaliy was born in Vinnytsia. He received secondary education. After the army, he worked as a security guard at commercial enterprises. At the same time, he studied at the Vinnytsia Trade and Economic Institute, which he graduated from in 2010 and received a higher education in the specialty "Enterprise Economics". After graduation, he signed a contract for military service in the transport aviation brigade in Vinnytsia. After being discharged, he worked abroad until March 2022. In March 2022, the man returned to Ukraine and became a volunteer defender. Initially, he served in the 456th Transport Aviation Brigade named after Dmytro Mayboroda. Later, he served in the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Vitaliy was buried in the village of Khyzhinets in the Vinnytsia region. The warrior is survived by his parents Olha Leontiyivna and Oleksandr Oleksandrovych, and his brother Oleksandr. The defender was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage of the III degree.