Vitalii S. Smorodin

Serviceman Vitaliy Smorodin was killed on March 11, 2023, in battle with the occupiers near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. The warrior was 23 years old. Vitaliy was born in Russia. From childhood, he lived with his family in the Dnipropetrovsk region. He graduated from the Kryvyi Rih College of the National Aviation University. He served his mandatory military service. After his studies, the young man dedicated himself to his main passion - music. He played in an ensemble and skillfully handled the electric guitar. He set up a small home recording studio and developed his own YouTube channel. He dreamed of releasing an album. However, a full-scale war began. The young man joined the ranks of the defenders. Initially, he served in the 129th separate brigade of the territorial defense, where he was a shooting instructor. In November 2022, he was transferred to the 3rd separate assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where he took the position of a gunner. As part of the unit, he carried out complex combat missions on the front line. "My son was an extraordinary person from childhood. Always cheerful and restless. He was welcoming to those around him and incredibly fair. He always aspired to a military career, he was stubborn. I didn't even argue, and he didn't want to hear about joining the Azov regiment. 'Mom, I like it so much,' he would say. He was also proud of his teaching work in shooting. A good, cheerful, loving boy. He was my hands and my angel in life. Without him, I would not have coped with many things and difficulties," said the mother of the fallen Natalia. "I knew he would go there because he reacted very sharply to everything that was happening. For him, it was a very dishonest and treacherous war. And he was fair, so he really wanted to help his country. From the first days, he volunteered. After that, we communicated less, but still kept in touch," added his friend Andriy. Vitaliy was buried next to his grandfather in the village of Vilne in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The defender is survived by his mother, brother, sister, relatives and friends.