76-year-old Viktor Horkun was killed on April 24, 2022, in the village of Yatskivka, Kramatorsk district. He came under fire from the Russian army and died in his own yard.
Viktor was born in Yatskivka and worked as a driver. In his free time and during retirement, he devoted himself to gardening and also raised rabbits. The area is known for its forests, so he often went to pick mushrooms and berries.
The full-scale invasion found Viktor in his native village. On April 24, 2022 — Easter Sunday — the enemy began entering Yatskivka. The village is situated so that one part lies in a lowland and the other on higher ground.
“Tanks were positioned on the hill and fired at the houses as if at a shooting range. The occupiers also walked through the streets firing everywhere — into windows, into cellars,” his daughter Nadiia recounted. “My parents were hiding from the shelling in the cellar. Suddenly, Dad decided to go outside. Ten minutes later, Mom went out. She saw the house burning, and next to it lay my father, already dead, with his legs on fire.”
The next day, fighting continued in Yatskivka. The Horkun family home had burned down completely. I the summer kitchen, the widow found a blanket. Together with a neighbor, she wrapped Viktor’s body and took it by wheelbarrow to the cemetery. They dug a grave themselves and buried him next to his son, who had died 25 years earlier.
“For his age, my father was in excellent health. He could have lived many more years. He didn’t drink. He didn’t take medicine because he believed it was ‘chemicals.’ He was energetic and loved company,” Nadiia added.
Viktor is survived by his wife, daughter, two grandchildren, and other relatives.
At 9:00 a.m. — the national moment of silence.
Donetsk Regional Military Administration and the Memorial platform: Killed by Russia commemorates residents of Donetsk region killed by the Russian invasion.