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This was reported on the Facebook page of the “Defend Protasov Yar” group, an environmental organization founded by Roman Ratushny himself. this tuesday: “On June 9, Roman Ratushny, a serviceman of the 93rd mechanized brigade from Kholodny Yar, was killed in the battle near Izyum (…).
The publication identifying Ratushny as “the first in any fight” and a man “who never showed fear,” noted journalist Oliver Carroll, correspondent for the Economist in Kyiv. It’s because? Because Ratushny was not only a soldier, but also a prominent Ukrainian eco-activist who took his first steps in civil society, being one of the first to join the demonstrations on the Maidanin 2013, which escalated into a revolution that overthrew President Viktor Yanukovych, near Moscow.
Oliver Carroll took the opportunity to recall the role of the young Ukrainian, who turns 25 on July 5, in those early days of Euromaidan. In an article published in 2018 no The IndependentCarroll noted that the Town Hall began to participate in demonstrations on the Maidan from the very beginning, when he was only 17 years old. “The teachers were sympathetic and let him sleep during class. At night, he was invariably with friends on Independence Square, ”the article says.
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A group of friends of the Town Hall will be among the first to be subjected to police repression, which led to the radicalization of the protest and the overthrow of Yanukovych. “This was the moment when Maidan ceased to be a protest against the EU and became a rearguard to prevent Ukraine from becoming a dictatorship, like in Belarus.”the activist told The Independent.
With the change of power, the Town Hall began to engage in environmental activities, founding the association “Let’s Protect Protasov Yar”. The group’s goal was to prevent the Protasov Yar ravine, a natural area in Kyiv, from becoming the target of real estate tampering – which the group was able to prevent thanks to lawsuits won in 2020 and 2021 that determined it should be a protected site. . .
The case, however, brought him discomfort and enmity with the political authorities. According to Dutch Delegation of the Helsinki CommitteeTown Hall started as target of death threats Deputy and owner of a construction company Gennady Korban and lawyer Andrey Smirnov (currently Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of President Volodymyr Zelensky).
Then, in March 2021, the Town Hall was placed in House arrest Ukrainian judiciary until the courts decide on applications for hooliganismpossessing illegal weapons and destroying property, he was targeted after participating in a solidarity rally with an anti-corruption activist, allegations that the Helsinki Committee said were unfounded due to “lack of concrete evidence.”
But apart from the court case, the activist was the object of direct criticism from the then Deputy Minister of the Interior, Anton Gerashchenko, who posted a video on social networks, in which Ratushny was allegedly identified in the commission of the crimes in question. The activist not only denied the allegations, saying he was not the person identified in the video, but also publicly asked the official to remove the images, which he accused of defamation, and demanded an apology. “The video is trying to instill a negative attitude in me,” announced at the time Ratushnyi.
However, with the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine on February 24, Roman Ratushny was on the side of the Ukrainian state from the first day, fighting on the front lines. He participated in battles in the Kiev region, then in Sumy and most recently in Izyum, where he died during the operation.
The environmental group he founded publicly mourned his death and vowed to continue the activist’s work. “We need to build a park in the Protasov Yar ravine, where we will plant an oak tree in honor of Roman,” wrote colleagues from Let’s Protect Protasov Yar, who also left a promise: “The park will definitely bear the name of Roman Ratushny.”
