Vitaly Bondarenko is a fan of the football club “Dnipro”.
Vitaly Yurievich Bondarenko was born on July 29, 1986 in the city of Dnipro. He studied at secondary school No. 22, graduated from evening high school No. 8. From an early age, he was interested in football, and also paid attention to workout with workout. At the age of 18, he joined the Dnipro fan movement, supported the team at home and away matches, took part in the football life, which at that time in Dnipro was very busy. Passed military service in the village. Cherkasy (Dnipropetrovsk region).
Like a large number of people from the fan stand of his native club, Vitaly defended Ukraine from the very beginning of the Russian invasion. In March 2014, he was mobilized to the 25th Dnipropetrovsk Airborne Brigade of the High-Mobility Landing Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine A/CH A1126, where he was a grenade launcher. Later, the brothers will remember that Vitaly came to retrain the grenade launcher, because initially he was the driver of an armored car. With the new equipment and weapons, not everything was successful the first time, but with his perseverance he was able to achieve his goal.
On June 13, 2014, the paratroopers were preparing to go to the ATO zone, where three military transport planes were to arrive. On the night of June 14, three Il-76 MD aircraft, on board of which were fighters, equipment, equipment and food, took off in the direction of Luhansk airport. The first plane landed successfully at the airport. However, the second aircraft (board 76777), which flew at an interval of 10 minutes from the first, was fired by Russian terrorists from the “Eagle” PZRK during the landing at an altitude of 700 meters.
Together with Vitaly Bondarenko on board this aircraft were 39 servicemen of the 25th Dnipropetrovsk Separate Airborne Brigade, as well as 9 crew members of the 25th Melitopol transport aviation brigade. As a result of the collision, the aircraft took off in the air and fell on the fuselage, exploding on the fall. Also, ammunition began to burn and explode on the ground. All 49 people on board were killed. In the morning of the same day, a search party of Ukrainian military advanced to the crash site, who reported that the remains of the plane were scattered over a distance of more than 500 meters.
The terrorist attack, which led to the downing of Il-76 near Luhansk airport, was the largest single loss of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the period since independence (as of June 2014). 32 of the 49 dead were from the Dnipropetrovsk region. Vitaly Bondarenko was awarded the Order “For Courage” of the III degree (2014, posthumously), as well as the Badge “For the Defense of Luhansk Airport” (posthumously). He was buried in the Zaporizhzhya cemetery of the city of Dnipro.
