Yehor Hordieiev talks about the shocking call from late Ruslana Pysanka, explaining why she refused to disclose her diagnosis

Ruslana Pysanka's colleague Yehor Hordieiev was perhaps the only one of her friends who knew about the serious diagnosis of the TV presenter and actress, who preferred not to disclose details about her illness until her death. Ruslana Pysanka passed away in July 2022. She died prematurely due to cancer.

In an interview with OBOZ.UA, Yehor explained why she hid her diagnosis even from her friends and also recalled a call from Ruslana from Germany, after which he felt that, like in a movie, "puzzles were falling apart."

Yehor Hordieiev and Ruslana Pysanka worked together on the Your Day program. Hordieiev was the project manager of the program, and Pysanka was one of the hosts.

"It was very easy for me to work with Ruslana," Yehor recalls of their collaboration, "She was one of our best players, she understood the tasks at a glance, and she knew how things work on television. I'm thirteen years younger than her, but that was in no way an obstacle for us to work together as a producer and a presenter. She is a great team player. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to do a lot of things as we didn't finish and didn't talk... I knew the truth about Ruslana's illness because I could help her and her husband a little bit logistically during their stay in Germany. That's why Ruslana told me everything. But I really understand and respect her desire to keep it a secret."

"You know, people around you often perceive your grief differently," Yehor replies when asked why Ruslana didn't tell him about her diagnosis, "Sometimes they take it as their own, and without meaning to, they suck a lot of energy out of you. And if you need this energy more than ever, it's better not to talk about it. So I think she made a very wise and correct decision. Ruslana was preparing to the last even when she went on air for two minutes from her hospital room. And few people knew what kind of hard preparations there were, how hard it was for her to do it physically. But she did it and gave us joy, celebration, and optimism."

Hordieiev says that Pysanka projected a magnetic energy on camera, "A small example: we're shooting, there are three presenters on the set, but nothing is working. I can't explain it. Everything is scripted and edited correctly, but it doesn't stick together, there is no chemistry, it doesn't work. And then I said, "Ruslana, just try to go out and enter the frame abruptly." She does it, and everything gets better, you know?"

Remembering Your Day, where they worked together, Yehor admits that he regrets that the project was suspended due to the full-scale invasion, "I confess that at one time we did not say goodbye to this program. That's why we organized an online meeting during one of the broadcasts of Breakfast about a year later. Stasia Rovinska was already in New York, Ruslana Pysanka was being treated in Germany... And I remember that that broadcast emotionally "tore" us all apart. It was also hard for me because I was the only one who knew what was really going on with Ruslana. She did not express it in any way."

"Knowing about the severity of the disease, I realized that, in principle, any conversation we had could be our last," Yehor adds, "I took every phone call as the last opportunity to talk. I will always remember one very difficult day when Stasia Rovinska first called and said that she and her husband had decided to go to America for the sake of their children. And half an hour later, Ruslana called and admitted that she was with her and asked for some help. And then I realized what big changes had happened to us. When the full-scale war started, there was no time to think about it. But on days like these, when you see puzzles falling apart like in a movie, you realize how global the changes are."

Read the full interview with Yehor Hordieiev on Sunday, April 14.

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