Ukraine honours Oleksiy Yukov, volunteer who returned war dead home

Kyiv,UPDATED: Aug 9, 2026 04:04 IST

Ukraine on Saturday paid tribute to volunteer Oleksiy Yukov, who spent more than two decades recovering the bodies of civilians and soldiers killed in war, including many Russians. Yukov, 40, died in a landmine explosion during a recovery mission on Wednesday.

Thousands gathered in Kyiv to pay their respects, with memorial services also held in other cities. Yukov, who founded the organisation Platsdarm, or Bridgehead, believed that all the dead deserved a proper burial and became known as a “collector of souls”.

An Orthodox Christian service was held at the Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr in central Kyiv. Mourners also gathered at the city’s main Maidan Square, where many dropped to their knees as a mark of respect as his casket was brought to the site.

Yukov was from the war-hit Donbas region and worked as a martial arts instructor. He began recovering the dead as a teenager after coming across the remains of Soviet and Russian soldiers from World War II. Volunteers from Platsdarm go into fields and forests, among ruins and across areas where the ground is often mined.

His widow, Evhenyia Kaluhyna, promised to continue his work as she spoke through tears at the funeral, wearing an embroidered white dress and standing over her husband’s open casket. “The work was difficult and terrifying,” she said. “But I promise you we will continue it because the (dead) deserve it, and you deserve it for everything you did.”

Speaking to The Associated Press, Yukov’s daughter Diana Kaluhyna said the “love and kindness” he showed to grieving families had moved the nation. “What stayed with me today was the simple truth: he honoured the dead and healed the living,” she said. “He offered more than hope, he restored people.”

Yukov had suffered leg injuries and lost an eye in a mine blast in 2022. Still recovering, he returned to the front line. In a social media post last month, he described the conditions in which he worked: “Remote mines, shelling, drones - everything is against you. But you go and do everything to ensure that every soul returns home.” He also rejected calls to leave behind Russian bodies, saying, “When they say: Let them rot, I do not agree. This is how we fight for every soul.”

He often described his work in religious terms, saying a body was a soul waiting to go home. “This is action,” he wrote. “Action every day in the fields, in the forest belts, among the ruins, where your life can end at any moment.” Saturday’s tributes in Kyiv and elsewhere reflected the impact of that work and the lives he touched.

With PTI Inputs

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