Ukraine mourns "collector of souls" Oleksiy Yukov, killed recovering war dead

Oleksiy Yukov, a Ukrainian volunteer who spent over two decades recovering the bodies of soldiers and civilians killed in war, has been killed during a recovery mission. According to the Associated Press, Yukov was fatally wounded after stepping on a landmine while exhuming bodies in the Donetsk region. He was 40 years old.

Yukov was known as a "collector of souls" and founded the Platsdarm organization, which aimed to give proper burials to all the dead. The organization, founded because he believed all the dead require a proper burial, sent volunteers into mined areas to recover bodies. Yukov, from the war-torn Donbas region, had previously suffered leg injuries and lost an eye in a mine blast in 2022.

A farewell ceremony was held for Yukov at the Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr in Kyiv, attended by thousands of people. An Orthodox Christian service was presided over by priests. NPR reported that Yukov spent two decades recovering the bodies of soldiers, including many Russians.

Brief written by urgent.news from NPR, Associated Press — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.