From childhood fishing trips to combat missions with Vampire drones, his path reflected a quiet determination to protect others.<\/p>\n
Viktor Brytkaru was born on July 15, 1993, in the village of Liubashivka, Odesa region. At school, he especially enjoyed mathematics, history, and geography, and he was always happy to help his younger sister with her schoolwork.<\/p>\n
From childhood, fishing was his passion. He and his sister often turned it into a competition: who could catch more fish. He helped his parents care for the garden and treated his family responsibilities with care.<\/p>\n
He dreamed of studying for a career in seafaring. However, he eventually chose a different path in life.<\/p>\n
The Beginning of His Service and His Military Years<\/p>\n
In 2015, Viktor Brytkaru began his military training. He volunteered to join the Kramatorsk Border Guard Detachment. He took part in combat operations in eastern Ukraine during the Anti-Terrorist Operation.<\/p>\n
On December 12, 2017, Viktor Brytkaru began serving under contract with the 26th Border Guard Detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. According to the Book of Remembrance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system, he completed comprehensive adaptation training and immediately established himself as a serviceman who never shied away from carrying out challenging tasks. He took part in reinforcing the section assigned to his unit and stood watch at one of its observation posts.<\/p>\n
Later, Viktor returned to civilian life. According to his wife, Anna, he worked in the security sector, installing video surveillance systems and fire alarms.<\/p>\n
He Grew in a Constant Desire to Defend His Country<\/p>\n
In the first days of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he put on his military uniform again without hesitation. At first, he carried out combat missions as part of the Odesa Border Guard Detachment, defending the country\u2019s southern borders. Later, he continued his service in the Phoenix unit, where he became an unmanned aerial vehicle operator, successfully carrying out combat and special operations in the Kharkiv sector and near Kostiantynivka in Donetsk region.<\/p>\n
Beginning on January 15, 2025, the serviceman continued his service with the Third Border Guard Detachment. For a month, he carried out combat missions in the unit\u2019s main unmanned aerial systems department. He joined the third border service section (Type C) of the second rapid-response border commandant\u2019s office for reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial systems, where he conducted combat sorties in the Kharkiv sector near the settlement of Dvorichanske.<\/p>\n
According to the Book of Remembrance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system, Viktor Brytkaru and his comrades carried out missions to destroy enemy forces on the territory of the aggressor country. Thus, on April 16, 2025, near the settlement of Borky in the Russian Federation, the crew of a Vampire unmanned aerial system, which included Viktor Brytkaru, detected and destroyed a passenger car transporting ammunition to enemy positions. As a result, the enemy lost its combat capability in that area.<\/p>\n
A few days later, on April 21, 2025, near the settlement of Dvulichne in the Russian Federation, the crew detected a truck carrying food supplies. A precise strike by a drone destroyed it, leaving the enemy without supplies.<\/p>\n
Beginning on May 19 of the previous year, border guard Viktor Brytkaru carried out combat missions in the Donetsk sector. For more than a month, from June 3 to July 9, 2025, the master sergeant carried out combat missions in the areas of the settlements of Yablunivka and Oleksandropil. During that period, he eliminated five enemy personnel, one passenger car, one motorcycle, and two enemy positions.<\/p>\n
On July 9, 2025, while carrying out a combat mission at the Malboro observation post near the settlement of Dovha Balka in Donetsk region, the enemy launched an attack with an FPV drone. As a result of the attack, Master Sergeant Viktor Brytkaru sustained fatal injuries.<\/p>\n
The Liubashivka community announced the tragic loss.<\/p>\n
His comrades remember Viktor as a responsible, reliable, and dedicated soldier who never left his fellow servicemen to face difficulties alone. They valued the defender for his professionalism, humanity, composure, and readiness to lend his support at any moment to those who needed it.<\/p>\n
Viktor Brytkaru\u2019s life was cut short just days before his 32nd birthday. He was known for his willingness to help others; his sister Anastasiia remembers him as a kind, sincere, and responsible brother. His family was especially dear to him.<\/p>\n
Viktor was buried in Odesa region, in the village of Vyshneve, where he spent his childhood and lived.<\/p>\n
Recently, the \u201cFor Military Service\u201d medal was presented to the family of the fallen border guard. The solemn ceremony was held with the participation of the Odesa Border Guard Detachment and representatives of the Peresypskyi District Administration.<\/p>\n
Eternal memory and honor to the defender of Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From childhood fishing trips to combat missions with Vampire drones, his path reflected a quiet determination to protect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[996,9011,9161,82,7827,9162,9163,9160],"class_list":["post-25912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-donetsk-region","tag-fallen-defenders","tag-fpv-drone-strike","tag-news","tag-ukrainian-border-guards","tag-vampire-drone","tag-viktor-brytkaru","tag-viktor-brytkaru-ukrainian-border-guards-fpv-drone-strike-fallen-defenders-donetsk-region-vampire-drone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}