(CNN) — Ukrainian film editor Viktor Onysko was killed on the front lines, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported Monday, without giving further details.
“So many brave and talented Ukrainians are sacrificing their lives in this war against the hordes of darkness to protect their homeland,” the ministry said at a tribute in Twitter. “May the light of our heroes’ memory shine forever,” she added.
Onysko worked on such Ukrainian films as “The Stronghold”, “The Rising Hawk” and “Viddana”. The Dovzhenko Center, Ukraine’s state film archive, called the event an “incredible loss for the film community and for Ukraine.”
Film editor Viktor Onysko died on the front lines, according to authorities. (Credit: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine)
His wife, Olga Birzul, wrote in a Facebook post: “My heart will remain forever in the terrible year 2022. Because you stayed there. My hero. My love. My everything. I don’t know how to live and breathe without you. No I know if I can dream again.
“All I have of you is a 9-year-old girl with your gray eyes,” he added.
“When I was choking on tears on the train one day, he patted my head and told me that daddy fought for our freedom, we will never forget him, daddy will always be in our thoughts. Our little adult. One of the thousands of innocent children whose parents they were killed by the fucking Russians. It’s painful. Indescribably painful,” he said.
The war in Ukraine continues after the start of the new year
An apparent Ukrainian attack on Sunday in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine appears to have killed a large number of Russian soldiers housed next to an ammunition depot, according to the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian military bloggers.
Ukraine claimed that around 400 Russian soldiers were killed, without directly acknowledging responsibility for those deaths. Moscow acknowledged the attack on Monday, saying 63 Russian soldiers were killed, making it one of the deadliest episodes of the war for Russian forces.
Meanwhile, multiple explosions have rocked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, damaging energy infrastructure and causing power outages on Monday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky used his first speech of 2023 to highlight a “sense of unity” in the country and contrast it with the “fear” he said is felt in Russia.
You can follow the news of the war, minute by minute, in this link.