Yurii M. Durytskyi

Sergeant Yuriy Durytskyi died on November 10, 2023, near the settlement of Stepove in the Donetsk region. While performing his official duties, he sustained a fatal explosive injury. The defender was forever 30 years old. Yuriy was born in the village of Chernyakhiv, Zhytomyr region. After graduating from the local gymnasium, he obtained the profession of a crane operator, vehicle driver at the Zhytomyr Center for Vocational Education. In 2013, he graduated from the Holovynske Higher Vocational School of Non-Metallic Technologies, where he mastered the profession of a mechanical engineer. From childhood, he was passionate about football, played for the "Temp" team (Selyanshchyna village), and repeatedly participated in competitions. In 2014, the man linked his life with military service, signing a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2016-2017, he participated in the ATO as part of the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade. In 2019, he signed the next contract and served in the 9th Department of the Zhytomyr RTCK and SP, holding the position of the head of the department - the head of the radio station of the communications and informatization department. In April 2020, he was transferred to serve in the military unit A1065, later to the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade. Since November 2021, together with his comrades-in-arms, he has been defending the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, where he also met the full-scale invasion. In May 2022, Yuriy was transferred to the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade "Mahura", where he was appointed as the commander of the communications section of the mechanized battalion. Then, as part of his unit, he carried out combat missions near Vuhledar in the Donetsk region. At the beginning of 2023, the serviceman underwent training in Germany and from the spring he fought with his comrades in the Zaporizhzhia direction, in particular, he took part in the battles for the villages of Mala Tokmachka, Verbove, Robotyne. "Yura was an extraordinarily cheerful and bright person. He loved life and active recreation with his family very much. For us, this is a very heavy loss. We still can't believe that we won't see our closest one anymore. Our whole family loves and is proud of Yuriy. We all waited for him to come home alive, but unfortunately, he gave the most precious thing he had - life, for us, for peace, for a free Ukraine, having many unfulfilled dreams and unrealized plans," his wife Alona said. The hero was buried in the village of Kruchenets in the Zhytomyr region. At home in Yuriy, his parents Larysa and Mykola, his wife Alona, son Artem, and sister Lyudmyla were waiting.