Television worker Andrii Zahoruiko was killed on November 3, 2022, in a battle in the village of Spirne near Bakhmut. Andrii stood up to defend Ukraine since the very first days of the full-scale war.
Andrii Zahoruiko had a great working experience on TV. He began his television career back in 2004, after having worked as a teacher of mathematics. Andrii willingly took on a variety of tasks, from camerawork to directing, at the Finfort TV production studio in Donetsk.
Zahoruiko had an interest in history which he managed to implement in his work. For instance, he worked on historical projects at the Tonis and City TV channels. In 2012, he brought his author’s program, Kyiv Stories, to the Kyiv TV channel.
Andrii’s colleagues note his flexibility and readiness to cope with new challenges. While on television, he worked on a selection of topics, including screenwriting, film editing, and graphics. A while later, he became a presenter himself. Having had a remarkably good memory and well-structured approach to work, he could, for example, quickly get a necessary comment from a numerous pool of experts.
Andrii’s colleagues also emphasize his fascinating way of covering complicated topics simply and accessible. Thus, he was truly keen on explaining what an impact Russia and the Soviet Union really made in Ukraine.
“The war brought us to an understanding of what Andrii had always realized and pointed out,” says Olena Yastrubenko, ex-editor with the Kyiv TV channel. “He was a prophet. He was able to find out facts and explain them in an understandable way.”
Though Andrii was born in the Donetsk region, he spoke Ukrainian and was a great patriot of Ukraine. This brought him to participate in the Revolution of Dignity in 2013 and to take up arms in 2022. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Andrii Zahoruiko had been defending his country in the ranks of the 25th separate rifle battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Sometimes he wrote to me from the frontline to ask how I was doing. ‘God bless you,’ I wrote to him once, and he responded: ‘I’ll try to deal with Him’,” says Olena Yastrubenko.
Andrii was killed in his native Donetsk region on November 3, 2022. His body could not be identified for a long time; thus, he was buried only after the DNA expertise.
Andrii Zahoruiko was 48 years old.
