**KYIV** — Oleksii Yukov, the 40-year-old head of Ukraine’s Platsdarm search unit, was killed on Wednesday, Aug. 5, while exhuming bodies in the Donetsk region. Yukov had spent nearly 27 years recovering the remains of fallen and missing service members.
News of his death was first announced by his wife, Yevheniia Kaluhina, in a social media post. Fellow service member and activist Serhiy Hnezdilov confirmed in a tribute that Yukov sustained fatal injuries during the exhumation of bodies near the frontline.
According to United24Media, Yukov died in the Lyman community of the Donetsk region after being wounded on the contact line.
Growing up in Sloviansk in the northern Donetsk region, Yukov began searching for World War II battle sites as a teenager. In 2014, he became the head of the search group at the Platsdarm Association of Researchers of Military and Historical Heritage. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Yukov and his team broadened their focus to recover both civilian and military casualties, as well as retrieving the remains of Russian soldiers for use in prisoner and repatriation exchanges.
Over the course of the conflict, Yukov’s team recovered the remains of more than 3,500 soldiers. Yukov previously described the recovery process, noting that units survey areas by drone, clear mines with bomb disposal experts, and then methodically search for remains, often working from early morning until late at night.
Yukov survived a near-fatal incident in the Kharkiv region in 2023 when he triggered an explosive device while searching for a fallen soldier, an injury that cost him an eye. Despite the blast piercing his tactical goggles, he returned to frontline work within two weeks.
His death underscores the ongoing hazards associated with body recovery and repatriation work in Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities have previously reported finding hidden explosive devices, such as grenades, concealed within repatriated remains, requiring rigorous safety checks prior to identification. Additionally, investigators frequently process large batches of mixed remains that require separation via DNA testing, resulting in lengthy identification processes for families.
Article source: kyivpost.com | Image credit: KGOU
