KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine paid tribute on Saturday to Oleksiy Yukov, a volunteer who spent more than two decades recovering bodies of civilians and soldiers — many of them Russian — killed by war. He was 40.
An Orthodox Christian service was held at the Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr, in central Kyiv, where thousands of people gathered to pay their respects following his death in a landmine explosion during a recovery mission on Wednesday.
Mourners also gathered at Kyiv's main Maidan Square, many dropping to their knees as a sign of respect as his casket was brought to the site. Memorial services were also held in other cities.
Yukov founded the organization known as Platsdarm, or Bridgehead, because he believed that all the dead deserve a proper burial. He became known as a "collector of souls."
From the war-torn Donbas region, Yukov was a martial arts instructor. He began recovering the dead as a teenager after encountering the remains of Soviet and Russian soldiers from World War II.
#yukov #gathered
An Orthodox Christian service was held at the Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr, in central Kyiv, where thousands of people gathered to pay their respects following his death in a landmine explosion during a recovery mission on Wednesday.
Mourners also gathered at Kyiv's main Maidan Square, many dropping to their knees as a sign of respect as his casket was brought to the site. Memorial services were also held in other cities.
Yukov founded the organization known as Platsdarm, or Bridgehead, because he believed that all the dead deserve a proper burial. He became known as a "collector of souls."
From the war-torn Donbas region, Yukov was a martial arts instructor. He began recovering the dead as a teenager after encountering the remains of Soviet and Russian soldiers from World War II.
#yukov #gathered
1 day ago
