He came into this world as a miracle — despite doctors’ predictions, despite fears, despite every “it’s impossible.” Mark Matiash-Myrnyi was a long-awaited son who grew up quickly, as if in a hurry to live — brightly, fully, without holding back.
Movement was his natural state. From the age of three he played football, was fascinated by basketball, and loved to dance. Mark also dreamed of esports and understood well that the path to a big goal is made up of daily effort: five years of studying English, self-discipline, curiosity about the new. He knew how to learn — attentively, diligently, without showy fuss. At school he was known as an independent, open, responsible boy who willingly took part in class life and knew how to be reliable.
The boy loved animals, loved trips to the sea and time at the summer house, fishing with his father, and family walks in the park. He loved Kharkiv — so deeply that even in safer cities his thoughts returned home. When the family was forced to leave because of the war, Mark missed his city but stayed strong. And already in 2023 his eyes were shining — he was back in his own city again.
Mark had another role as well — he became the face of a children’s clothing brand created by his mother. The camera did not intimidate him: he knew how to hold a gaze, pose, and be confident. At times he grew tired, but he never stepped back — he wanted to see things through to the end. In this, too, there was a kind of sport: endurance, concentration, character.
In September 2024, Mark celebrated his 11th birthday — in Kharkiv, just as he had dreamed. Balloons rose into the sky, there was a festive cake in a café, there were gifts and smiles. And only a few weeks later, that tragic day came. On 30 October 2024, a Russian aerial bomb struck a nine-storey residential building in Saltivka, where the boy’s family lived. Mark was pulled from under the rubble with severe head injuries and fractures. Medics fought for his life; he fought too — until the very end. But victory was not possible.
Mark’s mother, Tetiana, who was severely wounded, did not learn the terrible truth right away: after the shelling she herself underwent a complex operation. His father, Volodymyr, despite injuries caused by the impact of the Russian bomb, helped rescue others, showed where Mark had been, called for help. But he could not save his son.
Mark Matiash-Myrnyi was a sporty boy from a Kharkiv courtyard, with his own dreams and an ability to rejoice in life. He was only eleven. Yet within those eleven years there was an entire world — filled with movement, light, and love.
He is survived by his parents, grandmothers and grandfather, relatives, and friends. And Kharkiv — the city he loved to the very last.
The memory of Mark is the memory of a childhood stolen by war. And of a life that should have gone on.