Rostyslav Yanchyshen, soloist with Odesa Opera Ballet, killed in action

Rostyslav Yanchyshen, a soloist with the Odesa Opera Ballet, has been killed defending Ukraine from the Russian army.

Source: Yevhen Lavrenchuk, the theatre’s director, on Facebook

Details: "Terrible news. The war has killed Rostyslav Yanchyshen, a soloist with the Odesa Opera Ballet. An eternal smile, a bright look – this is how your colleagues will remember you...", Lavrenchuk wrote. 

The director said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine rejected the dancer's application, so he became a volunteer and joined the territorial defence forces. "When he was not accepted into the Armed Forces, he joined the territorial defence. A patriot, a volunteer. Rostyslav Yanchyshen, you are now forever merged with the air, which was so dear to you. Eternal and bright memory to the Hero! Beauty never dies!", added Lavrenchuk.

Rostyslav Yanchyshen was born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, on 20 May 1991.

He received his choreographic education at the Kyiv Municipal Ukrainian Dance Academy named after Serge Lifar. He joined the Odesa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, where he worked as a ballet dancer.

At the front line, he served as a machine gunner. He was killed on 19 April, a month short of his 32nd birthday.

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