Themes by tag: dead

A memorial march honoring Mikhail Zhiznevsky, a Belarusian who became one of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred during Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity, and more than 80 Belarusian warriors killed in russia’s war against Ukraine is set for January 26 in the capital.

The annual event will retrace the route used in 2014 to accompany Zhiznevsky’s body after he was fatally shot by security forces on Instytutska Street during the Maidan protests.

The procession will begin at St. Michael’s Square.

• dead
• Kyiv

The art installation “Window of Memory” will be presented in Kyiv from January 11 to 13. The project is being carried out by the Vshanui NGO in collaboration with the artist Veronika Mol. The installation is dedicated to the Minute of Silence and the memory of fallen soldiers. It also explores how Ukrainians live with this memory during the war.

The two-part installation (visual and audio) will occupy open public spaces, inviting contemplation. Its visual form evokes windows, framing views of the sky above soldiers’ graves, with names inscribed on the back of each frame. The audio component is a composition created from real people’s responses reflecting on the Minute of Silence, memory, exhaustion, and the tension between honest and hollow public tributes to the fallen.

Media accreditation is required.

• dead
• Kyiv

Tetiana is the mother of four-year-old Nazar. Before russia’s full-scale invasion, she and her husband enjoyed an ordinary family life in Ukraine – a home, plans for the future, and dreams they shared.

Her husband, Vitalii, was a career officer, a captain in Ukraine’s Armed Forces. After graduating from the military academy, he dove straight into service. For him, it wasn’t just a job; it was a deliberate calling, a lifelong commitment to protecting his country, his family, and their son’s future.

When his father died, Nazar was just one year and six months old. The boy has no memories of him, but he’s growing up hearing stories, looking at photographs, and learning that his dad was a Hero of Ukraine, a man defined by honor, responsibility, and duty.

Vitalii’s death upended Tetiana’s world. With him gone, she lost her pillar of support, her sense of security, and the happy life they had built. “Three years have passed since my loss. The pain has not gone away – it has become part of my life. I am still living with this loss and every day I am learning to live in a reality that I did not choose. The only thing that kept me from breaking down and forced me to move forward was our son. He became the force that keeps me going despite all the pain,” she says.

By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with Tetiana online.

For reference: The Children of Heroes Charitable Foundation supports children who have lost one or both parents due to the war. The foundation provides tailored immediate aid, including humanitarian assistance, psychological and medical support, along with educational and developmental opportunities that continue until the children reach adulthood.

• dead
• military
• women

Sofiia Zalozna, now raising her six-year-old daughter Myroslava alone, first fled conflict in 2014. To escape russia’s aggression in the Donbas, she moved to Volnovakha in Donetsk oblast (the city that has been under russian occupation since March 2022).

In 2017, she joined the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. There, she met the man she would marry. Their daughter Myroslava was born in 2019.

The young family left the service in 2020 and relocated to Poland, seeking stability. In January 2022, they chose to return to Ukraine, with plans to eventually move to another country. But before they could, the full-scale invasion began.

They were staying with Sofiia’s parents in Kharkiv oblast when the shelling started. For weeks, they sheltered in basements, fearing russian troops would enter their village.

Sofiia eventually fled to Poland with their daughter. Her husband remained — and enlisted in Ukraine’s Defense Forces.

He was killed on July 31, 2022, in Velyki Prokhody, Kharkiv oblast, after detonating three anti-tank mines. He was 27.

“Time just stopped,” Sofiia recalls. “We were supposed to see each other soon. He dreamed of coming home on leave, holding our daughter… He never got the chance to be a real father, even though he loved Mira with all his heart.”

Sofiia Zalozna is available for interviews, in person in Irpin, Kyiv oblast, or online, by prior arrangement.

For reference: The Children of Heroes Charitable Foundation offers sustained support to children who have lost one or both parents due to the war. Its programs include urgent personalized assistance, humanitarian aid, medical and psychological services, and long-term educational opportunities until the children reach adulthood.

• dead
• military
• women

Oksana and Volodymyr met in 2020 through social media. The couple was together for two years and was planning their future together when their dreams were shattered by the full-scale invasion.

In 2013, Volodymyr participated in the Revolution of Dignity, after which he joined the Ukrainian military as a volunteer. After nearly a year of service, he was captured near Ilovaisk in the Donetsk oblast. He spent nine months in captivity before returning to civilian life following a prisoner exchange. With the start of the full-scale war, he took up arms once again. Volodymyr was killed in action in Bakhmut in July 2022.

After learning of her loved one’s death, Oksana created the “Have To Live” online community for the wives of fallen soldiers. Volodymyr had once given gifts to the children of deceased soldiers on St. Nicholas Day, a tradition that Oksana continued. The women’s community has since grown to six thousand members. Oksana established a charitable foundation and assembled a team of specialists to support those navigating loss and grief. The women work with psychologists, receive legal support, and help develop a new culture of remembrance for the fallen.

Oksana Borkun is available for interviews online and in person in Irpin, Kyiv oblast, by prior arrangement.

• dead
• military
• women
• Kyiv

Yaroslava Shevtsova is from Svatove, in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. She owned a fitness studio there. On March 8, 2022, she and her young son were forced to flee their home when enemy troops captured Svatove. The city is now under russian occupation.

She relocated to France, where she found work, and her son started kindergarten. In October 2022, Yaroslava met Oleksandr Kolomiiets, a Ukrainian soldier who had served since 2015. The couple communicated online and dreamed of meeting in person. They met for the first time on January 2, 2023, and spent a month together. They decided that Yaroslava would return to Ukraine in June to get married.

However, on March 27, 2023, Yaroslava was informed that Oleksandr had been caught in a mortar attack and died in the hospital. Yaroslava decided to return to Vinnytsia, a city that Oleksandr considered the best in Ukraine, and live there. There, she planned to open a café in his memory.

Yaroslava lacked the necessary funds, but she was supported by a friend and Oleksandr’s brothers-in-arms. Thus, the family-friendly café “Simba” was born in Vinnytsia. The café holds charity fundraisers and supports Oleksandr’s fellow soldiers.

Yaroslava Shevtsova is available for interviews online and in person in Vinnytsia by prior arrangement.

• dead
• military
• women
• Vinnytsia

A memorial event titled “Wounds of Bucha’s Soil” will be held in Kyiv on November 7 to honor the tragedy of Ukraine’s hero cities, Bucha and Irpin, and the surrounding Bucha district, which endured some of the most brutal fighting in the spring of 2022. Once at the heart of russia’s assault on the Kyiv region, Bucha became a lasting symbol of the Ukrainian people’s strength and resilience. In the early weeks of the full-scale invasion, local defenders halted the enemy’s advance toward the capital, blocking armored columns on the outskirts of the city. After liberation, horrific images from Yablunska Street exposed the scale of atrocities committed by russian forces, turning Bucha into a global emblem of resistance and remembrance.

The event will revisit those events through the personal stories documented in journalist Olga Vorobyova’s books “Voices of Memory: Bucha – City of Heroes” and “Unconquered Irpin.” Attendees will hear first-hand accounts, testimonies from families of the fallen, and memories of witnesses who lived through the occupation. Organizers say the gathering will serve as a living memorial, a space for reflection, remembrance, and tribute to Ukrainians who sacrificed their lives for freedom.

Speakers will include:

– Nataliia Verbova, widow of Territorial Defense member Andrii Verbovyi, who was tortured to death by occupying forces;

– Olha Vorobiova, author of Voices of Memory: Bucha – City of Heroes and Unconquered Irpin;

– Kostiantyn Kukushkin, coordinator of the book publications;

– Liudmyla Humeniuk, mother of soldier Roman Shymanskyi, who died on February 25, 2022, during the demolition of the Hostomel Bridge over the Irpin River to stop an enemy convoy bound for Kyiv;

– Oleksandr Dubchak, the combat engineer who destroyed the Hostomel Bridge;

– Andrii Halavin, abbot of Church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Bucha, who oversaw the burial of the city’s victims;

– Dmytro Hapchenko, administrator of the Bucha City Council;– Yurii Savchuk, Director General of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II and head of the museum’s expedition to the liberated Kyiv region in April 2022.

The program will feature documentary footage and photographs depicting the aftermath of Bucha’s occupation and the surrounding communities.

Journalists are required to register in advance to attend the event.

• dead
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

A 20-year-old servicewoman in the 63rd Separate Mechanized Brigade with the call sign Bilka became a widow when her husband, Pavlo, was killed on the front lines. After losing her beloved husband, she joined the army to fight the enemy.

Bilka chose to specialize in drone operations because Pavlo was also a drone operator. Initially, she wanted to work with reconnaissance drones, but she currently pilots FPV drones. After completing her training, she began serving in the brigade, carrying out combat missions. She believes that, through her flights, she feels her husband’s presence because she is continuing his work.

Interviews with Bilka can be arranged online or in person by scheduling an appointment with the press officer in advance.

• dead
• military
• women

On September 23, Kyiv will host a panel discussion titled “Remembering the Dead: How to Honor Their Memory in Public Spaces Without Reducing Them to an Undifferentiated Mass.”

The event, organized by the NGO Ukrainian LGBTQI+ Military and Veterans for Equal Rights, will explore how to commemorate fallen defenders in public spaces in ways that preserve their names and individuality rather than reducing them to abstract symbols. Special attention will be given to approaches for visibly and respectfully honoring both open and closeted LGBTQI+ service members in the urban environment, including the concept of a memorial alley.

Speakers:

– Oleksandr Demenko, Head of Ukrainian LGBTQI+ Military and Veterans for Equal Rights;

– Yakiv Lavrynets, Co-Chair of Kharkiv Pride Sphere and Co-Organizer of KharkivPride; 

– Oksana Borkun, Head of the Have to Live Charitable Foundation and Founder of the Community of Wives of Fallen Defenders; 

– Veronika Holubnych, a Representative of the Vshanui NGO; 

– Dmytro Kostiuminskyi, a Military Officer, Production Designer, Actor, Theater Director, and Creator of the Tree of Memory Monument (online). 

Registration is required for attendance.

• dead
• military
• Kyiv
• LGBT

One of the Danish Refugee Council’s (DRC) key missions in Ukraine is conducting civilian humanitarian operations of non-technical surveys and clearing explosive ordnance. The organization also trains State Emergency Service of Ukraine specialists and educates civilians on how to identify dangerous devices.

On September 4, 2025, a DRC team came under rocket fire while conducting purely civilian humanitarian activities – working to clear landmines and explosive remnants of war to protect communities and enable safe access to essential infrastructure, farmland, and homes. The attack killed two deminers and left eight others injured.

The Danish Refugee Council has reaffirmed its commitment to its mission. Despite the risks and challenges, our demining teams undertake this vital work to prevent further loss of life from landmines and unexploded ordnance. 

The DRC team is available for conversations online and in person by appointment.

• casualties
• dead
• russian crimes
• demining