Ukraine honors its ‘collector of souls’ volunteer killed while recovering the war dead

Priests preside over a farewell ceremony for Oleksiy Yukov, who was fatally wounded while exhuming bodies of killed soldiers in the frontline in Donetsk region, in St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) Relatives mourn at the coffin of Oleksiy Yukov, who was fatally wounded while exhuming bodies of killed soldiers in the frontline in Donetsk region, during farewell service in St. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) 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. 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.

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