A massive internal explosion had ripped open the T72 tank as if it were a tin of sardines. The turret was 10 meters away. Oleksi Yukov began circling the armored vehicle looking for evidence. It didn't take long for him to find shredded military uniforms. "These are remnants of Russian uniforms." Around him, the Ukrainian spring had filled the field with flowers and the air with insects. The task that day in the destroyed village of Dolyna, under a scorching sun, was to verify if there were human remains and extract them for analysis, because the goal was always to inform families of the final fate of their loved ones and give them a Christian burial. Whether they were Ukrainian or Russian.
That day in 2024, in front of this reporter, Yukov's team and his assistants from the Association of Military Heritage Researchers Platzdarm, dug inside the tank until they gradually found what they were looking for. As they removed layers of soil, a pungent and nauseating smell began to emerge. "The moisture has preserved these remains. Death can be smelled and felt," said Yukov. "The explosion crushed the tank driver to the ground, and pieces of his body fused with the melted steel, but despite the time passed, we have some flesh and bone remains from the face." He even found the possible origin of the explosion: the pin of a grenade: "It's possible that a Ukrainian soldier threw a grenade through the tank's hatch and caught its crew off guard."
This 40-year-old archaeologist, responsible for recovering and delivering hundreds of deceased soldiers' bodies to their families, whether Russian or Ukrainian, died last week after stepping on a landmine in an area near the Donbass front line, Yukov's usual workplace.
The researcher and expert in human anatomy (he could identify human bones with just a small fragment) was born in Sloviansk, right where the conflict began in 2014 between Ukraine and pro-Russian militias supported by Moscow. Until then, he had specialized in finding and identifying bodies of German and Soviet soldiers fallen during World War II. "Sometimes it's easy to identify the dead. German soldiers had better dentures than the Soviets because they ate food that was chewed better, but they also had more cavities from consuming more sugar," he told this reporter while removing a pistol holster and the dead man's belt buckle. "Remote mines, bombings, drones: everything is against you. But you go and do everything possible for every soul to return home," Yukov said.
Information about the deceased Russians was sent to the Russian Ministry of Defense to confirm through DNA that those soldiers were from their army. This collaboration has been one of the few bridges that have remained standing between Russian and Ukrainian authorities during the invasion.
This past Sunday, Ukraine held an Orthodox Christian service at St. Volodymyr's Cathedral in central Kiev, where thousands of people gathered to pay their respects to Oleksi Yukov, a well-known and respected figure in society, known as "the soul collector."
Hundreds of people also gathered in Maidan Square in Kiev and knelt as a sign of respect while his coffin was being moved. Commemorative ceremonies were also held in other cities.
Yukov's widow, Evgenyia Kaluhyna, promised to continue his work, standing by her husband's open coffin. "The work was difficult and terrifying," she said. "But I promise you that we will continue because the (deceased) deserve it, and you deserve it for all that you did." Speaking to The Associated Press, Yukov's daughter, Diana Kaluhyna, said that "the love and kindness" he showed to grieving families moved the nation. "What I am left with today is a simple truth: he honored the dead and healed the living," she said. "He offered more than hope, he restored people."
Yukov, who was also a martial arts expert, had suffered leg injuries and lost an eye in a mine explosion in 2022, but none of those injuries prevented him from returning to the front line to recover more bodies.