Courageous, purposeful, reliable, fair – this is how the police sergeant who devotedly loved his Motherland and fought for it since 2014 is remembered. The hero died on October 16, 2023, while performing a combat mission in Donetsk region. He will forever remain 36 years old.
Yurii Gera, a fellow policeman, recalls: “Yaroslav was raised as a true Ukrainian who loves his Motherland and is ready to fight for it.”
For his family, Yaroslav has always been a role model and support: a caring son and father, a loving husband, a master with “golden hands”.
The Hero’s wife, Olga, recalls that her husband radiated kindness and did not refuse help to anyone:
“Our Yaroslav is a very kind, sensitive and fair person. He loved everyone: children, his family, friends, brothers. He was the soul of the company. And the guys on the front lines are talking about him. Because everything he did was for people.”
Yaroslav’s mother, Bohdana Vyhopen, shares her memories of how her son volunteered with his father in the ATO area in 2014. When he returned home, he became a rescuer. When a full-scale war with Russia began, it was impossible to stop his desire to liberate Ukraine from the invaders. And already in August 2022, Yaroslav managed to be appointed to the Lviv special purpose patrol police battalion.
“It is very sad and difficult to realize that such a person is no longer with us. He always showed a desire to go first when it was necessary to perform difficult combat tasks,” says Viktor Pankiv, deputy commander of the 2nd company of the Lviv police patrol service battalion.
“My son is a Hero for me… Love for Ukraine was embedded in his genes from my parents. I told him: child, you have armor, don’t go anywhere. And he says: Mom, if I don’t go, they will come to us,” says the mother of fighter Bohdan Vyhopen.
Together with his fellow police officers, Yaroslav passed through Zaporizhzhia, Izyum, Kupyansk and Bakhmut, and was awarded the “Badge of Honor” badge of the National Police of Ukraine for a quick operation in the Lymansky direction.
Yaroslav Zalisko, a friend of the deceased Hero, recalls: “We met with him during the Izyum operation, their unit also carried out assaults and sweeps. Yaroslav was a professional both in military affairs and as a rescuer. I always wanted to be the first, the best, and went for it, I was very purposeful.”
The fatal battle in Donetsk region was the last for Yaroslav Vykhopny. Relatives say that there were only two weeks left before the fighter’s rotation, so they were counting the days until meeting him. The wife received the last call from her beloved just a few hours before the tragedy.
“On October 15, at one o’clock, we talked with him and he told me that he would definitely call again later… It was on Sunday, and from Sunday to Monday he died. And I can’t believe it. I wait for him every day,” says the policeman’s wife Olga.
Yaroslav’s son, 15-year-old Nestor, is also experiencing the loss very hard, because his father was a true friend and mentor to him:
“I spent a lot of time with my dad. We went fishing and football with him. It’s very hard for me right now, I miss the words he used to tell me.”
Yaroslav Vyhopen will forever remain for each of us the personification of patriotism and devotion to Ukraine.