In Zaporizhzhia direction, journalist and media designer Ruslan Rudukan was killed
Forty-seven-year-old Ruslan Rudukan, a journalist, media designer, and serviceman with the 153rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, was killed at the front. He fell in battle in the Zaporizhzhia direction.
This was reported by the Information Service of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), Censor.NET informs.
According to Ruslan’s close friend, journalist Serhii Suk, Rudukan last made contact on the evening of August 30, the day before heading to combat positions.
In recent months, he had published brief frontline notes about his comrades-in-arms, the war, and people who remain human even under the most difficult circumstances.
Worked in the media for more than 20 years
Ruslan Rudukan was born in Uman on April 1, 1979. In 2001, he graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University.
He later moved to Cherkasy, where he worked in local media for more than two decades. His work was published, in particular, in the newspaper "Pres-Tsentr," and he collaborated with "Budivnytstvo i rekonstruktsiia" and other media outlets.
One of his favorite subjects was Uman’s historical and architectural heritage. He researched the city’s underground passages, historic buildings, and the region’s tourism potential.
Combined journalism with media design
Rudukan also worked in printing and newspaper layout for many years. He created layouts for "Dilova Cherkashchyna," "Cherkaskyi rehion," "Chornobylska hazeta," "Ridna Cherkashchyna," "Narodna pravda," and other publications.
His colleagues remembered him as a specialist who was equally confident working with journalistic materials and designing newspaper pages.
Joined the military after the start of the full-scale war
After Russia’s full-scale invasion began, Rudukan sent his wife and son to Poland, while he remained in Ukraine and engaged in volunteer work.
According to his friend Serhii Suk, Ruslan had sought to join the military from the outset, but his health prevented him from being mobilized immediately. Despite this, he later managed to enlist in Ukraine’s Defence Forces.
He combined military service with physical and intellectual work, supported his comrades-in-arms, and told the stories of those who remained at the front and those who were killed.
The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine expressed condolences to Ruslan Rudukan’s family, friends, and colleagues.
"Every such loss is not only a life cut short. It means texts that will never be written and subjects that no one will ever cover the way he would have. The NUJU continues documenting losses among Ukrainian media workers – those killed while performing their professional duties and those who, like Ruslan Rudukan, exchanged the newsroom for a military uniform," the NUJU stressed.
