THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Military man, photographer, and artist Yurii Kostyshyn, with the call sign ‘Kit Kharakternyk’, has been killed at the front. This was reported by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. Yurii will forever be 48.
In 2015, he voluntarily joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, served in the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade Kholodnyi Yar. After the start of the full-scale russian invasion of the territory of Ukraine, he continued the fight as part of the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade. Yurii participated in the defense of Kyiv, fought in the territory of Zhytomyr, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy Regions, as well as in Kursk.
Between combat operations, he began to record the frontline reality — nature and fellow soldiers — on his phone camera. Since 2023, his photographs have been exhibited in Ukraine and abroad: personal exhibitions have been held in Lviv, Ternopil, Kyiv, and Vilnius.
Photographs taken by the fallen Hero were included in Inna Gonchar’s art book ‘4.5.0.’, Valerii Puzik’s poetry collection ‘Three Medals in a Drawer,’ as well as in the book ‘Critic to the People or Poems of My Childhood’ by the fallen soldier Nazar Mialikguliyev. One of his works is on the cover of the release of the band ‘Zabavka and Dmytryk – Ruina’ with lyrics by Vasyl Trush-Koval.
In 2023, Yurii’s texts were published in the ‘Anthology of Military Writers ‘Voices’. He also became a participant in the audio collection ‘Indestructible’, where he read Yurii Ruf’s poem ‘Black on White’.
Currently, the pre-sale of Yurii Kostyshyn’s art book ‘Abydobranich. Book of Photos and Emotions’ is underway at Publishing House 333. It is a collection of frontline photographs and texts created during the war.
Eternal memory to the fallen Defender! Sincere condolences to everyone who knew Yurii!
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