UKRAINE, Aug. 5 — Russian forces killed Oleksii Yukov, the head of the Platsdarm team, said his wife, Yevheniia.

Platsdarm is a volunteer search, recovery, and repatriation team, which, since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, searched for bodies of fallen Ukrainian and Russian soldiers in the frontline area and evacuated them.

Oleksii was killed during one of his search missions because of the Russian attack, said Serhii Hnezdilov, a soldier and an activist.

Oleksii has been searching for fallen soldiers for more than 20 years, before the Russia-Ukraine war started, he was looking for the bodies of those killed during World War II.

In 2025, Gwara Media journalists traveled with Oleksii and Platsdarm team to the border of Kharkiv and Donetsk regions to document the search, identification, and evacuation of human remains.

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The Gwara Media editorial team extends its condolences to Oleksii Yukov’s family, friends and loved ones.