Andrii Romaniuk, Revolution of Dignity participant, killed in action in Ukraine

Andrii "Vorobei" (Russian for ‘sparrow’) Romaniuk was killed on the front on 28 October. He took part in the 2013–14 Revolution of Dignity when he was 16 and had later volunteered to defend Ukraine.

Alina Bodnar, a servicewoman, was the one to share the news of Romaniuk’s death.

"My heart has been torn out of my chest. Our Andrii. Our little sparrow. I don’t know how we’re going to keep living. How your mom and your partner will survive without you. Our oxygen, our sense, our support has been taken away from us," Bodnar wrote.

Andrii was a junior sergeant and the commander of an attack drone unit of the Carpathian Sich 49th Separate Assault Battalion.

Tetiana Bilynets, Romaniuk’s partner, shared her memories of him. She said that the fight had "totally consumed" her husband over the last 10 years, but he was still managing to help his loved ones with their affairs.

"I could never understand how a serious commander could contain so much tenderness and love. I didn’t know where you found all that lust for life and optimism amid our current reality," Bilynets wrote.

"You taught me to love every day of my life, because every day for the past two years I woke up to your ‘Good morning, love’ and fell asleep to ‘Good night, darling’," she continued.

She said Romaniuk was going to introduce her to his mother during the Christmas holidays.

"He promised to introduce me to his mom at Christmas, but, my love, I did it myself. I came to your house, but you weren’t there. I came to Vinnytsia, but my smiling Andrii with his big beard was not there to meet me with a bunch of my favourite flowers," Bilynets added.

Romaniuk’s friend, poet and combat medic Yelyzaveta Zharikova, expressed her condolences to Romaniuk’s family over their loss. She said that he "lived to fight for Ukraine".

"Throughout all the trials, he was full of light, he was loyal, and he would never hesitate to sacrifice himself. He gave his life for the freedom and lives of others," she wrote.

"We will no longer have the world we had together, the times we would hang out together, our arguments and our animal-saving missions. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to avenge him. But I will always have his memory. I promise to carry it with dignity," Zharikova said.

Roksolana Khmara, the wife of late Ukrainian dissident and former political prisoner Stepan Khmara, said that Romaniuk took part in the Revolution of Dignity when he was only 16.

"Our wonderful boy was already at the Maidan when he was 16. Then my friends and Stepan Khmara spent several years trying to make sure he doesn’t go to prison. He and his brothers-in-arms were trying to punish the Berkut [special police that attacked protesters] fighters who beat up people at the Maidan," Khmara recalled.

Liudmyla Hyrtova shared photos of Andrii during the Revolution of Dignity and said how worried he was about his mother when he was detained.

"I remember when I sometimes asked Andrii why his mom wasn’t in the court, he would gently tell me: ‘I asked her not to come, because she had a night shift. I want her to rest.’ There was so much love and care in his words," Hyrtova said.

Romaniuk later took part in the Anti-Terrorist Operation and defended Ukraine during the full-scale invasion. Zharikova said Romaniuk was injured in 2023, but tried to return to the front from the hospital.

"He said: ‘What’s the big deal, that torn and sutured ear? Is it really a problem?’ Later, when I also got a shrapnel wound, Andrii wrote that I was a fool," she recalled.

Romaniuk, the only child, is survived by his beloved partner and mother. The farewell service will take place on 1 November in Kyiv, at St Michael’s Cathedral at 10:00 and on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (the Independence Square) at 12:00.

On 2 November, Romaniuk will be buried in Vinnytsia.

Anton Shevchuk, a combat medic and a participant in the Revolution of Dignity who joined the army in 2014, was also killed earlier in October.

Support UP or become our patron!