Photographer and National Guard sniper, Roman Chornomaz, killed on Bakhmut axis

On June 13, sniper Roman Chornomaz, a soldier of the Svoboda battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine, was killed in a battle on the Bakhmut axis.

This follows from a statement by Freedom.

Roman grew up in Uman, Cherkasy Region, in a family of dissidents, independence fighters, historians, and journalists Bohdan and Tetiana Chornomaz. He made photo materials for a number of media sources; during the Revolution of Dignity, his photos were also published by foreign media. At the beginning of the war, he went to the front.

According to Roman, before the war, he was ‘not a military person at all.’ He liked to attend festivals, mass actions, and events and take photographs. He also engaged in agriculture. Unlike his parents, he did not participate in politics.

“I associated myself with journalism, so I was never a party member,” Roman said in an interview for the Procherk publication. “This is not welcome because it is necessary to provide information impartially, even if you are more of a photographer than a writing journalist.”

“In general, I am a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature by education,” added Roman. “Previously, I worked at newspapers. At first, I lived in Uman, in the capital, for some time, then returned to Uman and took private orders. But when the full-scale invasion began, it immediately affected Uman as well….”

Roman applied to the military commissariat, a Territorial Defense Force, but he was not accepted for military service anywhere. That’s why I applied to the Freedom Battalion. After training, he got into the defense of Sievierodonetsk.

“The first thing that impressed me when I got there was the smell. I used to think hell must smell like sulfur. In fact, no, it smells like a fire: burnt things, buildings, furniture, people’s dwellings – everything collected by the people for many, many years, and then at one point burned to the ground. That’s what hell smelled like,” said Roman in an interview for NV.

“Since that time, a lot of different events and adventures have already taken place, which many people have never experienced so much in their entire lives,” the fighter recently wrote on Facebook. “I have been officially at war for a year, and three hells are already behind Sievierodonetsk, Zaitseve, and the outskirts of Bakhmut. A year ago, I was a fearless green recruit, of whom no trace remains today. What am I now? An infantryman with strong nerves who can sleep in a trench, even if a tank drove over the head, literally). I have an episode when I fell asleep at the time when the assault was going on, and in addition, an enemy 72-mm cannon was working on our positions, and my comrades tried to hit it with a grenade launcher))).”

“Coming back to Donbas is almost like home,” he wrote in one of his latest posts. “Recently, I caught myself thinking that I know the local infrastructure much better than in my native Uman….”

After the war, Roman dreamed of going to the Carpathians and resting for a few days, listening to the sounds of the forest. And so – to return to a peaceful profession, to rebuild the country…

Roman is survived by his mother and sister. The time and place of farewell will be announced later.

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) is deeply saddened by the death of a colleague. Eternal memory to the Hero, and condolences to his family and friends.