In memory of Senior Soldier Ivan Zakharuk (call sign "Zakhar").

Ivan had many friends who cherished him for his incredibly kind heart and sense of humor. He was sensitive to the problems of those close to him and never compromised his life principle – he never left people alone with their troubles. According to his wife, Kateryna, he enjoyed each day and could never sit still: “He had plans and tasks every day, always coming up with something for himself. And always with positivity, always with a smile. I can't even remember a day when he didn't smile.”

Ivan was born on September 20, 1991, in the village of Chernechchyna in the Sumy region. At the age of 13, he became an orphan, and his uncle, Anatoliy Koshlyaty, took him in. After finishing school, he enrolled in the Sumy Center for Vocational Education in Food Technology, Trade, and Restaurant Service, where he obtained several qualifications. He worked as an electric welder in Sumy and spent his free time playing football, volleyball, and table tennis, as well as enjoying fishing.

During the full-scale war, Ivan enrolled in Sumy State University, majoring in "History and Archaeology." The department recalls that he had a genuine passion for historical science and dreamed of becoming a historian in the true sense.

Since his school years, he showed a particular interest in sports – he engaged in athletics and football, but his greatest passion was martial arts. During his university years, Ivan focused on ancient Greek martial arts – pankration – and began competing in regional tournaments in 2010, becoming a master in this sport.

From February 2022, Ivan, along with his friends, resisted the enemy in his native village. “He constantly told me, 'I can't stay home while others are fighting.' The guys tried to do everything they could – they assisted the local territorial defense, removed road signs, and blocked entrances and exits to the village,” Kateryna recalls.

In the summer of 2022, Ivan joined the military. He served as a scout in the 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky, operating in the Chernihiv and Kharkiv regions, and fought in the Bakhmut direction in Donetsk, earning a medal for "Service in Reconnaissance." He never complained, despite the difficult circumstances.

“He was an optimist; every time he came back, he would say, 'Victory is near, we will return soon, everything will be alright.' He always saw the positives in everything,” his wife shares.

On February 14, 2024, the enemy struck with guided bombs at a position in the Vuhledar direction, where two of Ivan's comrades were stationed. A rescue crew quickly set out to search for the soldiers. They managed to find and save one soldier's life, but the other was not located. The search was halted due to the enemy's active offensive actions. When Ivan learned that the rescue crew could not retrieve the body of his fallen comrade, he decided to find it himself.

On February 17, 2024, the 32-year-old senior soldier went on his final mission near the village of Prechystivka in Donetsk region. That day, Ivan called his wife and told her he would be on a mission but would return the next day. She recalls that her beloved was planning to take leave soon, attend pankration training, and was preparing a gift for her: “He mentioned just two weeks before his death that he was planning a trip to Bukovel.”

The search operation lasted several hours, and the fallen comrade was found under six meters of rubble. Despite continuous assaults from Russian forces, realizing that the area would soon be overrun and the deceased would be considered missing, preventing the family from saying goodbye, Ivan decided to drag the body to the nearest shelter and wait for dusk to evacuate. However, a direct hit from an artillery shell ended the Hero's life...

“They searched for Ernest’s body under the rubble for about four hours. They took it and dragged it to the nearest shelter. It was 100-200 meters away, where our guys were too. As a result of a direct shell hit, everyone there died. I still can’t believe this and come to terms with it...,” Kateryna says.

The soldier was buried at the Alley of Glory in the Novo-Central Baranivka Cemetery in Sumy.

Posthumously, Ivan Zakharuk was awarded the title of honorary citizen of the city of Sumy and the Krasnopillia community. His awards, honors, and sports medals are kept in his wife's personal archive. By Lake Chekha in Sumy, she set up a bench in memory of her husband. The memorial plaque next to it reads: “Here my feet touched the ground.”

“He loved this place very much. We used to exercise here, run together. When he came back, we would just walk here, drink coffee, often sitting with blankets,” Kateryna says.

Eternal memory to the Hero!

Photo from Kateryna Zakharuk's personal archive, Facebook page of Sergey Cherednichenko