Ukrainian border guard Nataliia Riabichenko killed after nine years of service

Nataliia Riabichenko, a 50-year-old Ukrainian border guard, was killed while carrying out a combat mission in Kharkiv Oblast on September 1. She had served in the border guard for nine years after joining in 2017.

Riabichenko was born and raised in Donetsk. She studied at the Donetsk Institute of the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management and later worked at the Tochmash plant, which manufactures drive equipment. After Russia’s war began in eastern Ukraine, she and her family were forced to leave their home.

The family first settled in Mariupol, then lived in Bilytske and Dobropillia in Donetsk Oblast. They eventually made a home in Yavoriv, Lviv Oblast. Riabichenko is survived by her daughter, husband and mother, and will be buried in Zakarpattia Oblast, where her mother lives.

Her husband, Volodymyr, remembered her as kind, sincere and responsible. “There was no better person for me. She was very decent and responsible, kind, sincere, caring and loving. She always worried about her family and tried to help and support them. She was not just my wife, she was the person closest to me, my source of strength. It is hard to comprehend that she is no longer with us,” he said.

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There was no better person for me. She was very decent and responsible, kind, sincere, caring and loving. She always worried about her family and tried to help and support them. She was not just my wife, she was the person closest to me, my source of strength. It is hard to comprehend that she is no longer with us.