Vitalii V. Vitvitskyi (Frits)

Combat medic Vitaliy Vitvitskyi (call sign Fritz) was killed on November 27, 2022, while performing a combat mission in the area of the village of Yakovlivka in the Donetsk region. He was 34 years old. Vitaliy was born in the village of Tarasivka, Vinnytsia region. He stuwas killed at the Zhmerynka Railway College. He worked in Kyiv at the SOCAR gas station. In his free time, he loved fishing, mushroom picking, and reading historical books. During the full-scale Russian invasion, Vitaliy first joined the local territorial defense, then the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He underwent training at the Desna training center in Chernihiv region and became a combat medic. Later, he went to the front lines with the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade. "My brother quit his job just to go to war. He said: 'Who will go if not me? I'm the older brother, I need to protect you.' Our father was killed early, Vitaliy was the support for our mother. He always made sure she had firewood so she wouldn't be cold in the winter. He told his comrades-in-arms that after the war he would definitely get married. He said he wasn't afraid to die, but he was afraid of being forgotten by everyone. He wanted a street to be named after him. The last thing he said to his girlfriend was: 'I will return home with a shield or on a shield,'" said his sister Kateryna. "The best son, loving brother, faithful friend," said his mother Vira. The defender was buried in his native village. Vitaliy is survived by his mother, sister, brother, and beloved.