Pregnant Kiev resident Victoria Zamchenko was killed by a Russian-launched kamikaze drone.

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appeared on the social networks of the goodwine wine store On October 17, a few hours after another shelling of Kiev, a post with a photo of one of the employees in black and white.

“Six years ago, Vika became a sommelier at the Goodwine store on Mechnikova. She was the only girl in the department, but she never showed weakness, there were no difficult tasks or challenges for her. She sincerely loved wine and her work, ”wrote Victoria’s colleagues. Kholod translates their words from Ukrainian: “<...> It is difficult to find the right words. But let's say Vicki's phrase, which she constantly repeated: "You need to feel less sorry for yourself." We will remember her so strong. Forever".

The bodies of Victoria and her husband Bogdan were found under the rubble of their house on Zhilyanskaya Street. Victoria was six months pregnant.

Despised gender inequality

Victoria was born in the Ukrainian city of Rivne. In the same place, in 2005, she entered the Humanitarian University with a degree in psychology. In her free time, Zamchenko read a lot and wrote texts to order.

“She had talent,” Anna Petrukova, a friend and classmate of Victoria , told the Ukrainian edition of Facts and Comments. Sometime in 2012, she saw an application that they were looking for a man to write a book about parenting. Vika was outraged by gender inequality, and she completed the test. And already when her candidacy was approved, it turned out that she was a woman.
Nevertheless, the contract was concluded, but, according to Petrukova, the book was published under the male pseudonym Viktor Kuznetsov. She recalls that the book was "in demand" and Victoria wrote several more. Books about parenting for men Super dad. A Brief Guide " and " Encyclopedia for a young dad " in Russia were published by the Eksmo publishing house.

Wholeheartedly devoted to work

When Zamchenko arrived in Kyiv in 2014, she used to have to work in two places at once. But in 2016, she took the position of a sommelier in the Kiev store for the delivery of wines from all over the world goodwine and stayed there for a long time.

Goodwine started from one point in Kiev, but soon grew into a real network with a bakery, a restaurant, a coffee shop and a sommelier school. From 2012 to 2014, another goodwine store was located in Donetsk, but in 2014 the store closed due to the war, and all employees were transferred to the capital.

Anna Petrukova recalls that Victoria was incredibly passionate about her work: “I remember somehow I came to her, and she was just preparing to defend her work at 3 WSET ( sommelier skill level. - Approx. “Cold” ). I noticed she had a thick book on the history of Europe. I wondered why. To which Vika replied that she was studying history in order to understand how wars affected the destruction of vineyards. This was the whole Vika. If she was engaged in something, then she devoted herself entirely to this matter. ”

Soon Zamchenko herself began to teach at the sommelier school. She was the only girl in the store department and the only teacher among all the lecturers.

Many buyers of goodwine became regular customers because they liked the wine Zamchenko recommended. One of the regular customers, a resident of Kyiv, Lena Hakgoren, told Kholod that she often came to goodwine and always looked for Victoria to help choose wine: she seemed kind and friendly to her.

I wanted to be useful to the country

On March 4, during the fighting near Kiev, the main warehouse of goodwine burned down . “None of us knows what will happen next,” wrote Victoria Zamchenko a few days later. - This war has already “multiplied by zero” my peaceful profession. Probably, only lifestyle bloggers feel worse than sommeliers now)”.

From the first days of the war, the store began to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians. The team prepared and sent food to hospitals, points of territorial defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, collected donations for equipment.

In the first days of the war, Vika and her husband (they got married back in 2019) left Kiev for Bogdan's parents in the Rivne region. The family returned to the capital only in August.

Anna Petrukova recalls that two weeks before the shelling of Kiev, Vika and Bogdan came to visit her and discussed what to do if Russia launched a nuclear strike on Ukraine. They had emergency suitcases prepared.

At the same time, according to Petrukova, Zamchenko did not want to leave the country: “She always looked at the situation soberly and, of course, understood that now it could be dangerous everywhere. But the option of going abroad was not even considered. She often said that as long as she could be useful in her country, she would be here. In addition, she definitely would not have left without her Bogdan ( after February 24, men from 18 to 60 years old cannot leave Ukraine. - Approx. "Cold" ).

In Kyiv, Zamchenko lived in a rented two-room apartment on Zhilyanskaya Street. “When the first attack on the center of Kyiv took place on October 10, windows were shattered in their house: the explosion was very close. Vika said that they were hiding in the corridor. On the same day, the master came, and they quickly installed new windows,” recalled Anna Petrukova.

Was not, but is

A week later, Zamchenko and her husband again had to hide in the hallway with their cat Oliva. On the morning of October 17, she wrote to her friends that she heard explosions nearby.

Petrukova talks about it this way: “Vika managed to write that she was flying very close and the neighboring building was already on fire. All of a sudden we lost contact with her."

House 116a on Zhilyanskaya Street in the center of Kiev was damaged after being hit by a kamikaze drone. under the rubble The bodies of five people were found . “Vikusya-bubusya. So you are in my contacts. Such an unusual nickname for you, but that's exactly what you were and are for me. So fragile, but with an incredibly strong spirit,” wrote Zamchenko’s friend Katerina Tsap. — And your Bogdan is the best. He's still the best for you. Your love is so beautiful. I have always admired the way he plays with your hair. Next to him, you were so tender. No, it wasn't. Is there! I love you very much. The three of you..."