Yaroslav V. Bychuk (Pozhezhnyk)

Soldier of the Territorial Defense Forces Yaroslav Bychuk was killed on July 3, 2023 in a battle with the occupiers near the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. The defender was forever 30 years old. Yaroslav was born in the city of Nizhyn, Chernihiv region. He studied at the local school No. 1. In 2010, he graduated from the Nizhyn City Lyceum. He received higher education at the National Technical University "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute named after Igor Sikorsky". He served conscription in the ranks of the National Guard of Ukraine and decided to sign a contract. In 2019-2022, he served in the State Emergency Service in Irpin. From the first days of the full-scale war, Yaroslav stood up to defend the Motherland. In the ranks of the territorial defense, he defended the Kyiv region, in particular the city of Irpin. Since September 2022, he has served in the 243rd separate battalion of the Territorial Defense Forces. Then, together with his comrades-in-arms, he defended the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. There he was wounded, but soon returned to the front line. In May 2023, he was transferred to the 111th separate brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "The worst thing is to bury your own children. Rest in peace, my son," wrote the mother of the fallen Nyna. "I will always remember you as a bright, sincere, kind person. You returned home, where your father and mother were waiting for you. Condolences to the relatives and friends. We are together with you in grief... Yaroslav was like a son, a friend to me. Now I will always visit the place where a part of his soul remained. May the Kingdom of Heaven be his. He left behind good memories of himself," wrote Svitlana Shcherban. The hero was buried on the Alley of Glory of the Frunzivsky cemetery in his native city. Yaroslav is survived by his parents, relatives, friends and comrades-in-arms.