Yurii Didenko, 40, was killed by Russian shelling on June 27, 2024, in the village of Zarichne, Kramatorsk district.
Yurii was born in Zarichne. He lived nearby in Lyman with his wife and son. By profession, he was a plumber.
When the full-scale war began, his wife and son left the country, while Yurii moved to Zarichne to stay with his parents. At the end of April 2022, the village came under Russian occupation. Five months later, Ukrainian forces liberated it, but Zarichne continued to suffer frequent shelling by the Russian army.
On June 27, 2024, Yurii told his father he was going to the store.
“Right after that, I stepped outside and heard something flying — a rocket or a guided bomb. I thought maybe my son would be delayed somewhere along the way and the trouble would pass. But he was already in the store. Everyone who was there was killed. It burned for two or three hours,” recalled Serhii Didenko.
The store owner and her daughter-in-law were also killed in the attack.
“Yura was a jack-of-all-trades. If something broke, he would immediately say, ‘Dad, I’ll fix it myself!’ My son was pure gold,” his father said.
Yurii is survived by his wife, son, and parents.
At 9:00 a.m. — a nationwide minute of silence. The Donetsk Regional Military Administration and the Memorial platform: killed by Russia — remember the residents of Donetsk region killed by Russians.