JANUARY 24, 1973 — MARCH 1, 2022
49 YEARS, CAMERAMAN
Yevhenii Sakun was a camera operator for a TV channel LIVE. His life was interrupted by a missile strike on March 1, 2022, when Russia shelled civilian infrastructure in Kyiv. The main TV tower was damaged. The missile that struck the tower killed not Yevhenii alone, but four other civilians. The cameraman was simply on a stroll not far from the tower.
The people that were killed that day stood no chance. The blast scorched the earth in several kilometers’ radius. Yevhenii’s body was identified thanks to the press card he had on him. Yevhenii was the first media worker to be killed in the full-scale invasion of the Russian aggressor state in Ukraine.
Yevhenii started his professional rise at «UkrKinoKhronika» studio, followed by Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Theatre, Cinema and Television University. Yevhenii crossed paths with the famous professors-veterans Israel Goldstein and Yakiv Miestiechkin. The grouchy duo was adamant in explaining how important it is to find a «safe spot» when «filming under fire». Yevhenii was puzzled and amused; what fire were they talking about?
When he graduated from the university, Ukrkino went bust, and most of his classmates went for different careers and lines of work. But not Yevhenii.
The cameraman was never instigating conflict, which is quite hard to avoid when surrounded by creative minds. Yevhenii took part in creation of unified national television content aimed at defense of Ukraine. He was sporting shades and a baseball cap in the summer. He was 49 years of age.
Yevhenii celebrated his birthday one month before the full-on war started by Putin. He dedicated his life to television, and he died by television.
