A former dancer of the Odesa Opera was killed while fighting for Ukraine, the ballet company said on Facebook.
Rostyslav Yanchyshen was killed on April 19 from a mortar attack, Ukraine’s Culture Ministry said, calling his death "an unspeakable loss." He was 31 years old.
Yanchyshen was a dancer at the Odesa Opera for over ten years. He became a volunteer within days of the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, serving as a machine gunner.
“One of the bright roles of Rostyslav was that of a soldier dying in the war, in the modern ballet ‘Trymai’ (‘Hold’). By a terrible verdict of fate, this role turned out to be a prophet for the artist,” the Odesa Opera Collective wrote on Facebook.
CNN reported that Yanchyshen was originally not accepted into the Armed Forces of Ukraine, joining the territorial defense forces instead.
“He was one of the first to go to defend the Motherland. Not because he was forced to, but because he wanted to,” said Harry Sevoyan, the head of Yanchyshen's ballet troupe.
(Updated: )
