Activist and soldier Vasyl Ratushnyi killed at the front

28.02.2025

Chytomo

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Ukrainian activist and soldier Vasyl Ratushnyi, a participant of the Revolution of Dignity and brother of the late activist and soldier Roman Ratushnyi, was killed in action on Feb. 27, 2025, according to a social media post by his mother, author Svitlana Povalyaeva.

“UAV pilot Vasyl Ratushnyi was killed on a mission tonight. My eldest son, he was my whole life,” Povalyaeva wrote.

Vasyl Ratushnyi was an operator (pilot) with the “Madyar’s Birds” military drone unit and was killed during a combat mission by a direct hit from an enemy FPV drone. He was 28 years old.

Svitlana Povalyaeva with her sons / Facebook: Svitlana Povalyaeva

Vasyl Ratushny joined the Defense Forces in 2014 as a volunteer when he was 18. He took an active part in the Revolution of Dignity. On Feb. 24, 2022, Ratushnyi was outside the city where he was building a house, and immediately joined the Territorial Defense Forces. Later, he continued to fight in the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the 414th Unmanned Strike Aviation Brigade.

“The difference between us, my generation, and our children is that they never stop. I’m not sure they realize it or not, but if you think about the risks, if you think about what might happen, you can lose,” father Taras Ratushnyi said after the death of Roman, his youngest son.

Growing up, Vasyl and Roman often accompanied their mother, Svitlana Povalyaeva, to major literary events in Ukraine.

“Vasyl Ratushnyi, my viking, my eldest son, whose call sign I do not know to this day, was always in the most dangerous spots at Maidan. In the winter of 2015, he went to war when he was still underage. In 2019, he did not renew his contract. He wanted to live on his land and build a house on it with his own hands,” Povalyaeva wrote back in 2022.