70-year-old Liubov Verbytska was killed on January 24, 2015, in Mariupol. At 9:15 that morning, Russian forces shelled the “Skhidnyi” neighborhood with Grad rockets. In just 38 seconds, 29 people were killed and 92 wounded.
Liubov lived in Skhidnyi with her husband, Oleksandr. That morning, she was returning from visiting her daughter Iryna, who lived in a nearby district.
“Grandma came back from her daughter’s, stopped by the Kyiv Market to get some groceries, and had just turned into the yard when the shells hit. Her husband Oleksandr was at home. He went to look for her right away because she had called to say she was on her way back. Sadly, she never made it to her building — she was just a few meters away when one of the shells exploded nearby. Her death was instantaneous. A local man who worked in a nearby shoe repair shop tried to help, but she was already gone,” recalled her granddaughter, Kateryna Samaroka.
Liubov Verbytska was born in Mariupol in a large family. She graduated from medical college and worked as a nurse in the neonatal pathology department at Maternity Hospital No. 2. In her later years, she was the head nurse.
“Grandma was very kind and caring. I loved her very much. We spent a lot of time together. She was proud of me when I enrolled in medical university,” her granddaughter said.
Liubov Verbytska was buried at the Zaozerne Cemetery in the Kalmiuskyi district of Mariupol.
A few months after her death, her husband Oleksandr Verbytskyi passed away.
In March 2022, during the Russian assault on Mariupol, Russian forces killed her daughter, Iryna Samaroka. And in April 2022, Liubov’s elder sister, Nadiia Arestova, died due to stress and the lack of medical care.
Liubov Verbytska is survived by her granddaughter, Kateryna.
At 9:00 a.m. — a nationwide moment of silence. Donetsk Regional Military Administration and the Memorial platform: those killed by Russia honor the memory of Donetsk residents murdered by Russians.