JUNE 11, 1987 — APRIL 29, 2023
35 YEARS, JOURNALIST
Men in Volodymyr’s family – great-grandfather, grandfather and father – went to war. However, Volodymyr was the first one to defend Ukraine as a sovereign state. Two weeks after the russian invasion, he took the oath of allegiance to Ukraine. He took it as a good omen that his oath took place on the birthday of Taras Shevchenko, March 9. Like Shevchenko said, fight and you shall prevail!
Volodymyr had a callsign «Lightning» for his journalist skill in his civilian life. Since 2007, he was a PR-manager and journalist for some of the Ukrainian leading outlets, like Znaj.ua, «Hazeta po-ukraiinsky», «Kraiina». He had a communications agency of his own.
Volodymyr was very fond of cars: he wrote about them, took pictures, organized automotive events, and had been covering cars on his YouTube channel as of late. Volodymyr was known by the large media community, and even Elon Musk himself. Once, the journalist took a picture of a «Tesla» next to the city limits sign of the village Mars, Chernihiv Oblast, and posted this on Twitter with a caption “Tesla on Mars”. Elon saw the post and replied to it.
Volodymyr tried to keep his journalist skills active. As soon as he got a hold of some internet connection and free time, he wrote about cars used by the military, or posted landscape shots of our country’s most heated areas. «Had I told my grandad, who’s sadly gone now, twenty years ago that our servicemen would drive “Mercedes” and it’d be nothing out of the ordinary, he would have never believed me», posted Volodymyr on social media.
He was born in Cherkasy on June 11, 1987. Graduated from Cherkasy school No 34 with honors. Studied at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, got PhD in philology.
Volodymyr was a proactive citizen. He was involved in the 2012 Language protests; in the winter of 2013-2014 he took part in the Revolution of Dignity. Since 2022, he had been with the Armed Forces of Ukraine fighting for the right to live in his free country. «It’s strange to hear the bullets whistling over you. It means they’re not mine, you don’t hear yours», once said Volodymyr. He was part of the battle for Popasna town in Luhansk region, later served in Kharkiv. He was promoted to junior lieutenant.
On the front, Volodymyr had a flask on him. He used to say that it was more than just an object for him, and not just because they had covered a lot of distance together. The flask was special for a different reason: it belonged to his grandad, who fought in World War II, made it to Berlin and returned victorious. The flask had spent over 80 years in the shed, to be useful again in our time. Volodymyr was convinced that the flask would survive this war as well. On April 23, 2023, during a combat mission, the journalist was killed near Bakhmut.
Volodymyr used to say that a volunteer is someone who is ready for resistance even in the darkest times. He saw it as the cornerstone of our victory. «How can I act differently and refuse to go? I have two sons after all», said the journalist.
Volodymyr was buried in his home city, Cherkasy, at the Ukrainian Heroes Avenue at the cemetery № 4.
