"Even in war, his camera sought life": Ukrainian artist and warrior Yurii Kostyshyn killed in action
Yurii "Kit Kharakternyk" Kostyshyn, a 48-year-old Ukrainian photographer, writer and serviceman, has been killed in action.
Source: PEN Ukraine, an organisation promoting literature, protecting authors and fostering international cultural ties
Details: Kostyshyn had defended the country since the time of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO). [The ATO or Anti-Terrorist Operation is a term used from 2014 to 2018 by the media, the government of Ukraine and the OSCE to identify combat actions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts against Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists – ed.]
Originally from Ternopil, Kostyshyn voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2015, serving with the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanised Brigade.
Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Yurii joined the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade, taking part in the defence of Kyiv and fighting in Zhytomyr, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Between battles, the defender began photographing nature and his brothers-in-arms on his phone.
Since 2023, Yurii's frontline photographs have been exhibited in Ukraine and internationally, particularly solo shows in Lviv, Ternopil, Kyiv and Vilnius, Lithuania.
Photographs by Kit Kharakternyk appeared in #4.5.0., an art book by Inna Honchar, Three Medals in a Drawer, a poetry collection by Valerii Puzik, and A Critic to the People, or Poems of My Childhood, a poetry collection by the late Ukrainian soldier Nazar Mialikhuliiev.
One of Yurii's photographs also appeared on the cover of Ruin, a release by the band Zabavka i Dmytryk.
In 2022, Yurii's work was published in Ybn bld rsn (F**ing Russians), a charity book project by Martin Yakub, and in 2023, in Voices, an anthology of military writers.
He also contributed to the audio collection Unbroken, in which servicemen read Ukrainian poetry. He recited In Black and White, a poem by Yurii Ruf.
Ukrainian publishing house Vydavnytstvo 333 is currently running a pre-sale of Yurii Kostyshyn's art book Abydobranich. A Book of Images and Emotions, marking his literary debut. The book is a collection of wartime texts and photographs created on the front lines.
Quote from Olena Herasymiuk, a Ukrainian writer and veteran: "Thank you, Kit Kharakternyk, for leaving us so much of yourself. But this does nothing to ease the pain of loss. Nothing can save us anymore on this empty, senseless earth.
[…] Thank you for being a friend and a companion. Thank you for creating beauty where others are afraid even to turn their empty heads. Our pack has been orphaned today. By one Artist. By one Human Being. By one Warrior."
More details: Sviatoslav Deneha, a Ukrainian doctor and veteran, noted that Yurii had been wounded on the front lines multiple times but always returned to duty.
"He fought for Ukraine the way he lived: honestly, responsibly, to the very end. […] He knew how to see the world deeply," Deneha said. "He was passionate about photography. Even in war, his camera searched for life – a quiet resistance to destruction, a reminder of what we are fighting for. In these images, you can feel his love for the land he defended with a weapon in his hands"
Tamara Horikha Zernia, a Ukrainian writer, stressed that "the Russians have once again shot through the body of our culture".
Quote from Horikha Zernia: "They have destroyed something that could have become a phenomenon, a school. They have killed an artist who could have spent many years creating in the service of Ukraine, and who could have nurtured children, students and followers.
Yurii Kostyshyn knew how to photograph a snail, a beetle, a clod of earth or a blade of grass in such a way that your heart would tighten with tenderness. A warrior and defender, he was extraordinarily supportive both in real life and online. He always found time to encourage others with a comment, to say something good, and generously shared the texts of other authors on his page."
Read also: Ukrainian violinist and sound engineer Valerii Lytvyn killed in action
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