Yehor T. Bartosh (Ekho)

Sergeant Major Yehor Bartosh (call sign Echo) was killed on July 29, 2022, during a terrorist attack in the temporarily occupied settlement of Olenivka in the Donetsk region. A week before this, the defender turned 34 years old. Yehor was born in the territory of Russia, where his parents lived. They divorced when the boy was 5 years old. Azamat (the name his parents gave him, and his grandfather later changed it to Yehor) was left to be raised by his grandfather and grandmother in the village of Korniyivka in the Kyiv region. There he studied at school. He had many friends and a cheerful and restless disposition. After the 8th grade, he entered the Lviv Military Lyceum named after the Heroes of Kruty. Later, he studied at the Kyiv Military Lyceum named after Ivan Bohun. He received higher education at the Faculty of Engineering and Economics of the Kyiv National University of Technology and Design. He was a jack-of-all-trades. He loved animals and speed. He adored riding his motorcycle. In 2014, Yehor voluntarily took up the defense of Ukraine. He joined the ranks of the separate special forces unit of the National Guard of Ukraine "Azov". He took part in the fiercest battles: in 2014 - for Illovaisk, in 2015 - in the Shyrokyne operation, in 2017 - in the battles for Marinka and Krasnohorivka, in 2019 - in the defense of the Svitlodarsk Bulge. On February 24, 2022, when the full-scale invasion began, Yehor was in Mariupol. Together with his comrades-in-arms, he heroically defended the city for 86 days. On May 16, by order of the command, he was forced to leave the Azovstal plant and fell into Russian captivity. The occupiers held the Ukrainian defenders in the colony of the settlement of Olenivka. And then they staged a terrorist attack there. "A true patriot, Hero of Ukraine, Hero of Mariupol, Hero of Azovstal". Good, sensitive, cheerful. We will never forget your smile and your jokes. Simply the best. A bright, honest person, a person of conscience, a true friend, brother, grandson, comrade," said his comrades-in-arms, relatives and friends. Yehor was bid farewell on April 25, 2023 at the Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv. According to the last will of the hero, his body was cremated and his ashes scattered in the mountains. The defender was survived by his grandmother, brother and aunt. Yehor Bartosh was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage of the III degree.