Sergeant Oleksii Nakonechnyi, call sign “Artist,” was killed on 11 October 2025 in Kharkiv. He was returning to his military unit after a short leave, during which he had spent time with his wife and their three-month-old son. He was just one kilometre from his destination when tragedy struck: the serviceman was killed in a fatal road accident.
Oleksii was born on 25 August 1978 in Kyiv and moved to Kherson at the age of four, where he grew up. He came from a family in which sport and the arts were an integral part of life. His father was a Master of Sport in athletics and a physical education teacher, while his mother was an actress and director of children’s theatre groups. His grandfather was a theatre director, and his grandmother worked as a librarian.
Sport became an important part of his life from an early age. Oleksii took up boxing and later became one of the pioneers of CrossFit in Ukraine. He not only trained but also competed, won places on the podium, and worked as a coach. His sporting experience instilled in him endurance, discipline, willpower, and the ability to work toward a goal — qualities that would later prove essential in military service.
At the same time, Oleksii had another equally powerful passion — the arts. He received acting training at the O. Dovzhenko Film Studio, appeared in films, and performed on stage. It was this combination of athleticism, acting skills, and natural charisma that earned him the call sign “Artist.” He embodied physical strength, energy, curiosity, and an ability to inspire and lead others.
In 2014, Oleksii moved to Irpin. Following the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he was among the first to volunteer for the Irpin Territorial Defence Volunteer Formation. He organised a hotline to help locate people and coordinated the evacuation of city residents. Later, he joined the volunteer “Shturm” Battalion, and in April 2022 was mobilised into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Oleksii began his military service with the 45th Separate Rifle Battalion, where he became a reconnaissance platoon commander. In 2023, he joined the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Black Zaporozhians. He continued serving as a reconnaissance soldier and trained young servicemen in tactical skills. In January 2025, he mastered a new field of military service and became a UAV operator.
His fellow soldiers remember Oleksii as a wise, courageous, and dependable commander. He never hid behind the backs of others and never asked his men to do anything he was not prepared to do himself. He led from the front, taught and supported his soldiers, and remained a man whose word they trusted.
But above all else, family was the most important thing in Oleksii’s life. Three months before his death, he became a father when his son was born. The short leave during which he saw his wife and little child was to be his final meeting with his family.
The defender of Ukraine was laid to rest in Irpin, on the Alley of Remembrance of the Fallen Defenders of Ukraine.