On August 5, 2026, Ukrainian athlete, coach, Muay Thai Master of Sport, and head of the “Platsdarm” search and recovery group, Oleksii Yukov, was killed in the Donetsk region. For many years, he trained champions, and after the onset of Russian aggression, he dedicated his life to searching for and honoring fallen Ukrainian defenders. He was killed near Lyman during one of these missions, carrying out the work to which he remained devoted until his final day.
Oleksii Yukov was born on September 9, 1985, in Sloviansk. From an early age, he was drawn to sports. He first practiced jiu-jitsu and later discovered Muay Thai, which became his true calling. He often said that he loved Muay Thai for its freedom and believed that perseverance was the most important prerequisite for success.
In 2007, Yukov founded the “Boiets” sports club, which quickly became one of the leading centers for the development of martial arts in the Donetsk region. He headed local Muay Thai and Horting federations and worked as a coach at the Enerhetyk Sports Complex.
As a teenager, a single experience changed the course of his life. At the age of 13, he visited the sites of World War II battles with his older brother. It was there that he realized no person should ever be forgotten after death. From that moment began a path to which he devoted more than a quarter of a century.
He initially focused on searching for and reburying those who had fallen in the First and Second World Wars. In 2013, he founded the “Platsdarm” search and recovery group, and in the spring of 2014, his team undertook its first mission of the modern war—recovering the bodies of Ukrainian servicemen after militants shot down two helicopters near Sloviansk.
From then on, the war became an inseparable part of his life. Together with his team, he worked near Ilovaisk, Debaltseve, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, Lyman, and dozens of other dangerous sectors of the front. The search teams recovered the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, helped identify the fallen, collected documents and personal belongings, and cooperated with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the humanitarian mission “On the Shield.” After the start of the full-scale invasion, “Platsdarm” returned nearly two thousand bodies of the fallen from the front.
In 2024, Oleksii Yukov was awarded the “Golden Heart” distinction by the President of Ukraine for his volunteer work. The following year, his work with the “Platsdarm” team became the basis for a documentary by Spanish filmmaker Rubén Díaz, which introduced the world to the people who risk their own lives to bring the fallen home from the battlefield.
On August 5, 2026, Oleksii Yukov set out on another search and recovery mission. While returning from the operation, he was killed when his vehicle struck a landmine near Lyman.
We bow our heads in remembrance. As long as the memory of people like him lives on, their work will endure.