A generation dying too soon  A soldier holds a picture of activist and soldier Roman Ratushnyi during a memorial service in Kyiv on June 18. Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo) | Ukrainians are grieving. Civilians die every day in Russian shelling and missile attacks, but most casualties are young military men who represented Ukraine's future. Roman Ratushnyi, a 24-year-old Ukrainian activist killed in action, was one of them. His loss was felt in his hometown of Kyiv, in the area near Izyum where his brigade is fighting, in northern Ukraine where his father is serving, and in Kramatorsk, near the front line in eastern Ukraine. There, Ratushnyi's older brother, Vasyl, has started wearing Roman's old chest plates in his bulletproof vest. "He didn't belong there," Vasyl said of his brother, two years younger. "We would need him very much in peacetime. But it turns out like this."  Svitlana Povalyaeva stands on a concrete fence that activists knocked down in Kyiv. (Serhiy Morgunov for The Washington Post) | Kramatorsk Roman woke his mother on the morning of Feb. 24. It was still dark. As she groggily squinted up at her son, she realized he was already dressed. "Mother, get up, they are firing ballistic missiles," Svitlana Povalyaeva recalled him saying. That evening, he was wearing a military uniform. He and some neighbors formed their own unofficial militia. Now, he was off to fight. Povalyaeva is Buddhist and raised her sons in the same faith. But she isn't one to shun all violence; she believes killing is sometimes justified. For years, she taught her children to fight, but away from the battlefield. Povalyaeva, who is a well-known Ukrainian novelist and poet, accepted invitations to read at festivals and other events on one condition: her boys had to come, too. That's how Roman was constantly exposed to a pro-Ukrainian community of artists and politicians who longed for a homeland out from under Russia's thumb. When Povalyaeva was on Maidan, Kyiv's central square, during Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004 protesting presidential elections rigged in favor of the status-quo candidate, then-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, 7-year-old Roman was at her side. "He believed in our victory and in the growth of Ukraine," she said. "And that one should do everything for that, whatever it takes, even sacrifice one's life." Roman's generation had its own revolution on Maidan nearly 10 years later. He was one of the student protesters beaten by riot police in the first days of the pro-western demonstration. He was just 16 and joined the protests for months, occasionally lying to his parents about where he was so they wouldn't worry.  Roman's friend, Eugene Cherepnya, 23, in Kharkiv region on July 21. (Serhiy Morgunov for The Washington Post) | Near Izyum Eugene Cherepnya often chatted about death with Roman. They were at the front line of a war, Cherepnya said, so they thought about their own mortality. But something about one particular conversation with Roman would later strike him as odd. At first, the chat was typical. Then he turned more serious and left instructions for Cherepnya: "If anything happens to me, take my things and give them to my brother." Cherepnya agreed. "Everyone jokes about death, right? Well, we had such jokes — not jokes really, rather discussions," Cherepnya said. "I didn't feel anything at that moment, everything was just as usual. But, actually, somehow it did sound strange." After Roman's death, Cherepnya eventually remembered Roman's instructions — to collect his things and give them to his brother. By his bed, Roman had left a handwritten verse — "Patagonia" by Ukrainian poet Mykhaylo Semenko: "I will not die of death, I will die of life. I will die — life will die, the flag will not waver." On a note with the poem, Roman had written: "Do not rush after me."  Taras Ratushnyi, Roman's father, in June. (Serhiy Morgunov for The Washington Post) | Northern Ukraine Even before Roman's body had been recovered, rumors of his death started to spread on social media. His friends were nervous: If the Russians realized they had the body of a prominent activist, would they do something awful to it? Word had reached Roman's father, Taras Ratushnyi, serving in northern Ukraine. His text exchanges with Roman had always been brief, mostly to confirm the other was still alive. The unanswered messages now sent him into a panic. But military officials soon confirmed his death — and then more agonizing news. Roman's body remained out of reach. Within days, personal documents he had carried with him appeared on Russian Telegram channels. But there was no photo of his body. His parents feared the worst. To retrieve Roman's body, his commander, Bob, waited four days for a heavy thunderstorm that made him harder to detect. Worried that the Russians might have booby-trapped the corpse, Bob carefully moved it with a rope until he was sure it was safe, then carried Roman back to base. Taras said he still keeps in touch with Roman's friends from his brigade. "Every time I call them or text them, I'm really worried that they won't reply," Taras said. "Sometimes it takes them really long to respond, and then they say, 'Sorry, we just had a really bad day here. Our people got killed again.'"  Vasyl Ratushnyi, 26, Roman's older brother organized a local defense force near his home. (Serhiy Morgunov for The Washington Post) | Kramatorsk Vasyl was always the quieter and more reserved Ratushnyi brother. While Roman stepped into the spotlight as an activist, Vasyl shunned it. He never even opened social media accounts. But he watched Roman with pride. In Kramatorsk, a city near the front lines and a target of the Russians, Vasyl described how Roman left him military gear in his will, including pouches that attach to his body armor, which Vasyl uses to carry a grenade. Their mother manages her grief with anti-anxiety medications, sleep aids and long walks with her dog. Vasyl copes with his sadness by "waiting dispassionately for an opportunity," he said, to kill the enemy that killed his brother. – Isabelle Khurshudyan and Serhiy Morgunov Read more: One young Ukrainian soldier's death felt by family, friends and country | 
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