I saw Vira Hyrych several times during my visits to Ukraine. But more often, we talked on the phone.
She was the head of coverage in our Kyiv bureau, and we spent dozens of hours over four years planning our daily reporting.
And our conversations weren’t just about work. Sometimes she called just to say, “How are you?” and “What’s new?”
Vira started working at RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service in 2018. She was widely respected and loved.
The last story she produced was about a Holocaust survivor who lived through the siege of the southeastern city of Mariupol, which Russia occupied soon after launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
One day, weeks later, Vira was not at our daily morning editorial meeting, which she usually led. Suddenly, I heard a colleague cursing. That’s when I feared the worst.
On the same day -- April 28, 2022 -- Russia’s Defense Ministry reported a "high precision" strike in Kyiv. It was intended to hit a military target. Instead, the strike struck Vira's apartment.
Her body was found early in the next morning amid the wreckage of the building.
Back then, it was still unusual for Russia to fire missiles at large Ukrainian cities. Now, it has become the norm.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Vira briefly left Kyiv, like many of the city’s some 3 million residents.
But she soon returned to take care of her elderly parents, who lived for almost a month under Russian occupation in the Kyiv region without electricity, water, or gas.
She shared videos on her social media accounts of a half-empty Kyiv. She even adopted a cat, whose owners had fled the city.
When Vira passed away, she left behind a void that could never be filled. Her professionalism and kindness left their mark on numerous colleagues and friends.
For many months, I could not accept that Vira was no longer with us. That I would not be able to call her again to ask, “How are you?” and “What’s new?”
I still remember Vira's voice.
