Ukraine mourns "collector of souls" Oleksiy Yukov, killed recovering war dead

Oleksiy Yukov, a 40-year-old Ukrainian known as the "collector of souls" for recovering remains of soldiers and civilians across two decades of conflict, was killed Aug. 5 when he stepped on a landmine during an exhumation mission in Donetsk. Thousands mourned him at an Orthodox Christian service in Kyiv on Saturday. Yukov founded Platsdarm in 2014 to recover remains and provide dignified burials for the dead—Ukrainian, Russian, and civilian—despite losing an eye and sustaining a leg injury in a 2022 mine blast from which he returned to work.