Roman Ratushny was born on July 5, 1997 in Kyiv in the family of Taras Ratushny (activist of "Save Old Kyiv" movement) and the writer Svetlana Povalyaeva. In 2012, he enrolled at the College of Finance and Law, where he received a law degree.

At the end of 2013, Roman took part in the Euromaidan, and with other students suffered a Berkut attack on the night of 30 November.

In 2018, he headed the Protasov Yar initiative, and in 2019 he led a public organisation of the same name. The initiative aims to preserve the green zone in Protasov Yar in the centre of Kiev and prevent development, which was intended to be carried out by the Daytona Group Ltd. The conflict between local residents and the developer escalated in early May 2019, when the developer built a fence and announced to the local community plans to build three 40-storey buildings on the slope. Subsequently, the State Architecture and Construction Inspectorate issued an injunction forbidding the company to continue building in the green belt, and on 27 June 2020, the Kyiv City Council returned the 3.15-hectare plot of land in Protasov Yar to green belt status.

Roman was a participant in actions in support of imprisoned Odessa activist Serhiy Sternenko. After another action on Serhiy's birthday, on 20 March 2021, Ratushny was placed under house arrest by the Pechersk district court on 29 March. He was suspected of hooliganism. The evidence of the prosecutor's office was a photo in which Ratushnyy was allegedly identified by witnesses. The photo shows a black background and white dots on it. The case has already been dubbed "The Case of Kazimir Malevich" in social networks, with a reference to the artist's most famous painting "The Black Square".

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Ratushnyi volunteered for the Ukrainian Defence Forces and created the Protasov Yar unit. He first took part in the defence of Kiev, and afterwards acted in Sumy Region, where he participated in the de-occupation of settlements in the region.

Since early April, Ratushny had fought in Kharkiv region, particularly in Izyum district, in the reconnaissance platoon of the 2nd motorized infantry battalion of the 93rd separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces "Kholodny Yar".

On June 9, 2022, Roman was killed by artillery fire from Russian troops near Izyum.

He was awarded the Order "For Courage" on September 13, 2022, posthumously.