Vitalii V. Topikha (Kadet)

Senior soldier Vitaliy Topikha (call sign Cadet) died on June 11, 2022, in a hospital in Dnipro from a severe shrapnel wound received in battle with the enemy near the village of Mykolaivka Druha in Donetsk region. The warrior was 26 years old. Vitaliy was born in the village of Ploske in Kyiv Oblast. He studied at Ploske Lyceum. He then graduated from NTUU "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute named after Igor Sikorsky," where he studied at the Faculty of Electronics. He obtained a degree as an acoustic systems engineer. In peaceful life, he worked at the company "Med-El." His greatest passion was hiking in the mountains. He was interested in cooking and photography. He engaged in sports and led an active lifestyle. With the onset of full-scale war, he took up arms to defend his native country from Russian occupiers. Vitaliy joined the ranks of the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky. He held the position of radio telephone operator in the anti-aircraft missile artillery battery of the anti-aircraft missile artillery division and went to the front lines. "He was cheerful, always smiling, eager to live. His last dream was to travel by bicycle across Europe. But it was not meant to be... He was an extraordinarily knowledgeable person. He studied the topics he was interested in thoroughly. His last hobby was growing his own grapes. In the first days, he took up the defense of Ukraine, although by nature, he was a very peaceful person. We miss his smile, jokes, advice, and interesting stories very much. We remember him every day..." shared the mother of the fallen, Zhanna. Vitaliy was buried in his native village. He is survived by his parents, sister, relatives, friends, and comrades. Posthumously, the hero was awarded the Order of Courage III degree. On October 21, 2022, a memorial plaque was unveiled in his honor on the facade of Ploske Lyceum.