Former GSC Game World designer and STALKER developer Vladimir "Fresh" Yezhov has been killed while fighting in Ukraine last week, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense revealed. Yezhov volunteered to defend his homeland in the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion back in February. He is not the only STALKER developer that has been fighting in Ukraine this year, but he is the first reported casualty from that limited pool of the defense force.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has already taken a heavy toll on the gaming industry, though the numerous resulting game delays are naturally the least of everyone's concerns when it comes to the ongoing war. GSC Game World has already relocated the majority of its staffers to Prague, where it is continuing to work on STALKER 2. Meanwhile, since Yezhov enrolled with the Ukrainian army, he became a commander of an air reconnaissance unit in the 23rd Special Purpose Battalion.

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Yezhov died during the defense of Bakhmut, a city in Eastern Ukraine that has been under assault since May. A funeral ceremony for the 38-year-old was held in Kyiv on December 27. GSC paid tribute to its former staffer on Twitter, stating that he will be immortalized by his numerous projects. Besides STALKER: Call of Pripyat, Yezhov also worked at Cossacs 2, Alexander, and Heroes of Annihilated Empires during his time at GSC. His other development credits include RTS game World of Battles: Morningstar, adventure game Sherlock Holmes: Devil's Daughter, and survival horror RPG Call of Cthulhu.

A GSC community manager already hinted at Yezhov's passing as part of a holiday message sent to the fans last week. The lengthy writeup—worded as a holiday greeting from an actual stalker—included a touching mention of a "red-haired lad" who had "been clenching his Freedom badge till the end." This was likely a reference to the fact that Yezhov's likeness was used for the character model of Loki, a leader of a Freedom faction detachment featured in STALKER: Call of Pripyat.

According to a Facebook post from his brother, Yezhov is succeeded by two sons. Casualties from the ongoing war are far from limited to combatants. The Russian FSB reportedly killed three STALKER cosplayers last month after mistaking them for Ukrainian spies. Meanwhile, Remedy Entertainment recently revealed that one Metro Exodus developer was also killed while defending Ukraine.

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Source: Kenny_PropheT / Reddit, Viacheslav Yezhov / Facebook