Yurii Vietkinwas born April 12, 1967, in Chernihiv. He studied at the Simferopol Military School (1985-1989), and the Kyiv Military Humanitarian Institute (1994-1996), receiving a degree in practical psychology. He served in the Chernihiv Training Center of the State Special Transport Service (1996- 2008) as an officer-psychologist, retiring from military service as a major in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation in the east of Ukraine (2015-2016) and was mobilized for active duty on February 24, 2022. On May 5, 2022, he was injured defending the city of Chernihiv, resulting in the amputation of his left leg at the thigh. He was discharged from the Armed Forces of Ukraine on February 22, 2024, for health reasons. Vietkin is currently a blogger, screenwriter, and playwright.

A short film, Interview (2016), based on his script, participated in the Cannes Festival in the Short Film Corner program, and received prizes in Portugal, and Saudi Arabia.

His plays Explosion, Phantomka, Hospital Rhapsody, and Macarius of Valhalla have participated in numerous competitions, including: the Reading of First Plays festival, Contemporary Play Week, the All-Ukrainian Veteran Fest, and July Honey. They have been presented as readings and performances at the Ivan Franko National Drama Theater, the Veterans Theater in Chernihiv, and the Chernihiv Puppet Theater.

As an actor with a prosthesis, he performed in a musical, Confusing and Genius Madness (2024), a joint project of the United Art Space of Chernihiv Region and the Chernihiv Philharmonic Center. He published The Time of Che (2024), an autobiographical narrative of the events of February–March 2022.

He is a participant of the Veterans Theater 2024 project in Kyiv, and is the founder of the Veterans Theater in Chernihiv, where wounded veterans and members of veterans’ families perform.