They`re gone: the painful losses for first two weeks of war

Today Espreso.Zaxid recalls those who have already gone because of the war. There are much more of them, and every loss is painful, not all were mentioned in the social media, but they remain in the hearts of the relatives and friends. We recall those who lost their lives in this war so that it would never happen again. 

Do not forget: the Armed Forces of Ukraine are working! We have a lot to defend, that is why the victory should be ours.

A Marine who, at the cost of his own life, stopped the advance of the invaders.

Marine Vitaliy Skakun, a native of Brzezany in the Ternopil region, blew up the Henichesky bridge with himself to prevent Russians leaving Crimea. It happened on Friday, on February 25. In order to block the advance of hostile vehicles from occupied Crimea in the Herson region the Ukrainian serviceman Vitaliy Skakun at the cost of his own life blew up the Henichesky road bridge.  

One of the most difficult places on the map of Ukraine was the Crimean isthmus. Here one of the first separate battalions of marines met the enemy. In order to prevent the advance of the tank column, the decision to blow up the Henichesky road bridge was made. The engineer of a separate battalion, the sailor Vitaliy Skakun, volunteered to complete this task. 

Vitaliy managed to mine the bridge but he did not have time to leave. According to the fellows he got in touch and informed he would blow up the bridge. An explosion was heard immediately. But our marine died. His heroic deed significantly slowed the advance of the enemy, which allowed the unit to redeploy and organize the defense.

Vitaliy Skakun was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. And there will be a bridge named after Vitaly Skakun in Prague. 

Champion and his family

16-year-old Artem Priymenko was killed during the Russian military aircraft strikes on March 7 in Sumy. The boy was a multiple champion of Ukrainian sambo championships. His family died with him. The father, mother, grandmother and two younger brothers, Yegor and Kyrylo, were in the house. They are have gone.

“Our pupil ... Our athlete ... his father, mother, grandmother and two younger brothers Yegor and Kirill died with him. It is a great sorrow for the family of sambo wrestlers, relatives and for all of us,’ wrote Yevhen Leonenko, the champion's coach.

Artem was a Ukrainian sambo wrestler, multiple winner of Ukrainian sambo championships, champion of the Open All-Ukrainian Tournament "lll Children's Sambo Festival".

Actor Paul Lee

During the battle with the Russian invaders, TV presenter, film and dubbing actor Pavel Lee (Pasha Lee), who went to fight for Ukraine since the first days of the war, was killed. He died in Irpen, where fierce fighting with the Russian occupiers took place.

Paul was seriously injured during the evacuation of people from a burning house in the city of Irpin. He and his acquaintance took off their bulletproof vests and covered the children with them from the bullets of Russian invaders. All 9 children were rescued, but Paul did not survive.

Pasha Lee was born in Crimea. He acted in movies and commercials, was a dubbing actor, he voiced "The Lion King", "Malibu Rescuers", "The Hobbit". On January 31, a new entertainment TV program "Day at Home" was launched. According to colleagues of the dead, Pasha was the happiest and sunniest among the six TV presenters…

Lviv journalist Vitaliy Dudar

During battles with the Russian invaders near Nikolaev the journalist from the Lviv region Victor Dudar died. On the first day of the war, February 24, Victor went to the military registration and enlistment office. For more than 10 years, Viktor Dudar had been working as a staff journalist for the Express newspaper, wrote on military issues and conducted journalistic investigations. In 2014-2015, Victor Dudar volunteered to fight on the front line. He later became a reservist and continued to work for the newspaper.

“I remember waking him up at 5:30, “Get up! The war has begun!” He hugged tightly, said that everything would be fine. He packed his backpack, called a few friends and went to the unit,” his wife Oksana Dudar said on Facebook.

The whole family except the cat

After a devastating Russian attack on the town of Markhalivka in the Kyiv region, a man lost his wife, daughter, two sons-in-law and mother-in-law. Only the cat survived. The man found a cat, dismantling the remains of his house. Marsik disappeared after the explosion, but he managed to survive. The man is completely broken and does not know what to do. His only wish is that the war in Ukraine will end sooner.

6-year-old Tatiana from Mariupol

A 6-year-old girl died of dehydration in Mariupol. The girl's mother died, so she was alone during the 8-day blockade of the city.

Rescuers pulled out the body of 6-year-old Tanya from the rubble of the house. It is unknown how long the child fought for her life. Before that, the Russian invaders left half a million people without water, electricity, heating and communications. Roads were also closed, actually cutting off Mariupol from the world. All attempts of volunteers to deliver humanitarian aid are blocked by the invaders.

If the sky is closed over Ukraine, there will be no more such losses. This step will not bring back the life of 6-year-old Tanya, but will save thousands of lives throughout Ukraine.

Tanya is not the only child affected by the war. The invaders bombed the maternity hospital and children's hospital in Mariupol. And they continue to shell residential neighborhoods and not military infrastructure at all.

Eternal memory of the dead. Death to the invaders!