OCTOBER 13, 1994 — JUNE 25, 2023
28 YEARS, JOURNALIST, LAWYER
Not long before the full-scale war, Anton said: «I will defend my country. I feel there will be military action. I have to be there. For the peaceful future of my family». On February 24, 2022, he showed up at the military enlistment center. First, he joined the Kyiv Territorial Defense, and once the city was safe, he enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was a junior sergeant and platoon commander.
He died on June 25, 2023 in defensive combat near Orikhove village in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Enemy fire from self-propelled howitzer (SPH). Anton suffered a lethal wound from shrapnel.
The position, which the journalist was charged to hold, was defended by five servicemen. Anton saved the lives of the two of them by sending them off to the rear. As a commander, he stayed in the line of fire to defend the position. Breathless bodies of the soldiers were only retrieved two days after their death, under fire and with great risk for those involved.
Anton was 28 years old.
The soldier is survived by his wife Anastasia Klitna, «Suspilne» correspondent, and their little son. When the newborn was coming into this world, Anton was always next to his wife, holding her by her hand.
«He was a talented journalist, lawyer and designer – an unbelievable professional mix for one man», colleagues of Anton remember their friend.
In his work, he unmasked corrupt politicians, stealers of state funds, crooked real estate developers, audacious judges, and he spoke openly about their crimes for the entire country to hear. Anton’s friends say that he’s the sort of personof whom people say «he’s got the nerves of steel». Back in 2019, he was assaulted as a result of his professional work. A criminal case was opened, but it was put on the ice soon after.
Anton was born and raised in Donetsk. He went to school No 65. He later enrolled in Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University. Before the full-scale war, Anton was a lawyer and a journalist for the non-governmental organization “StopCor”.
Anton’s mother said that her son played the guitar, he skateboarded, he loved his brand-new car, he was fond of programming. Honest, sincere, reliable, kind. “My only son, my pride, sense of my life. My benevolent hero, my joy that turned to unimaginable grief and pain of loss”, says the mother of the deceased journalist.
Heavenly Pantheon has another Hero now.
Forever 28 years young.
