He was extinguishing a fire in one of the high-rise buildings in Mariupol when a Russian sniper shot him.
A true patriot, football coach Viktor Tkachuk died on April 9, 2022. His family and friends urged him to leave. His 80-year-old mother lived in the town of Berystetske in Volyn and asked him to move in with her.
When the full-scale war began, he evacuated his wife and two sons to Poland. Viktor returned to Mariupol to help the locals: distributing food and water, searching for relatives and acquaintances, and trying to establish communication. He rode his bicycle from one end of the city to the other.
A shell hit his house, and he was extinguishing a fire with others when he was killed. His body was found in the area where he had lived. Viktor was buried in a mass grave with other civilians. He was 53 years old.
Most of his life was devoted to sports. Viktor, originally from Volyn, first played for FC “Styr,” and in 2000 moved to Mariupol, where he started his coaching career. He was a coach at the Azovstal Youth Sports School.
His family is in Poland. Even now, his 12-year-old son often tries to save food, saying that one should not eat it all, but save something for tomorrow, just in case there is nothing left to eat. The hunger of Mariupol will stay with him forever.