Volodymyr A. Yezhov (Fresh, Vus)

Junior Sergeant Volodymyr Yezov (call sign Vus) died on December 22, 2022, while defending the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. During the unit's aerial reconnaissance operation led by the defender, Volodymyr encountered a mine. He was 38 years old. Volodymyr was born in the city of Lubny in the Poltava region. He graduated from the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute," where he studied automated control systems. He was fluent in English and had been passionate about computer games since his student years. He played "StarCraft" professionally. In 2003, Volodymyr was invited to work at the "GSC Game World" company. He became one of the game designers and level designers for several well-known game strategies. After that, he worked at "Frogwares" and other studios, and before joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he was employed at "Fishing Planet LLC." Volodymyr was involved in the creation of games such as "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.," "Clear Sky," "Cossacks," "World of Battles: Morningstar," "Call of Cthulhu," and "The Sherlock Holmes: Devil's Daughter." In the game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat," the "GSC Game World" company used Volodymyr's face to create the character Loki. According to his family and friends, Volodymyr was passionate about his work and loved what he did. Starting from the first day of the full-scale invasion, the man volunteered to defend Kyiv as part of the UVO company formed by veterans of the OUN battalion. In the summer of 2022, when the volunteer formations were being disbanded, he had the opportunity to leave the military. However, Volodymyr joined the 23rd Special Purpose Battalion of the Separate Presidential Brigade named after B. Khmelnytsky. He became the head of the aerial reconnaissance unit. "He said that in the struggle that the Ukrainian people are now waging, the happy future of our children is being born. I hope you have found a better world, brother," wrote his brother Vyacheslav Yezov. On December 27, 2022, the defender was bid farewell at the Volodymyrsky Cathedral in the capital. Volodymyr was buried in the Alley of Heroes at the Lychakiv Cemetery in Kyiv. The defender is survived by his wife, two sons, brother, and other relatives. The warrior was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage of the III degree.