You're reading: At least 2,154 soldiers killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine

A bloody battle in Donetsk Oblast's Maryinka claimed the lives of at least four Ukrainian soldiers on June 3, and one more elsewhere on the front line. They are among the 27 soldiers killed since mid-May.

Ukraine’s army repelled the June 3 assault by Russia-separatist forces in a 12-hour battle involving artillery on both sides. The government still controls Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, west of the occupied stronghold of Donetsk.

Yuriy Biryukov, a military advisor to President Petro Poroshenko, said some 39 Ukrainian servicemen were wounded over the past 24 hours.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk blamed Moscow for the latest fighting. “Russia has once again violated the ‘ceasefire’ agreement…Its terrorists began a military operation.”

At least 6,417 people, including 626 women, have been killed and 15,962 wounded since mid-April when the Moscow-engineered invasion of Donbas began.

The
following is the list of those known to be killed through May 1
4-31:

May 14

Maksym Hrachov, 29, a soldier of the 41st motorized
brigade from Chernihiv Oblast.
Hrachov was mobilized to the army in September and was killed in Volnovakha in
Donetsk Obalst. His friends recalled
that he wanted to get married when he comes back from the war front. “Maksym
was my best friend, I can’t believe he’s not with us anymore,” Hrachov’s friend,
Serhiy Salimon, was quoted as saying. “I cried like a child when I found out
about (his death). We wanted to celebrate when he comes back from war, but
instead we gathered for his mourning,” Salimon said. Hrachov leaves his mother,
two sisters and brothers in a town of Semenivka in Chernihiv Oblast.

Vitaliy Salohub, 32, a soldier of the 93rd
mechanized brigade from Poltava Oblast. He
was mobilized to the army in April 2014, was involved in the battle for a
village of Pisky close to Donetsk Airport. He was treated in one of the Poltava
Oblast hospitals after the his service and died on May 14. Salohub leaves his
wife and two children in a town of Kobelyaky.

May 15

Stanislav Kucherovskiy 30, a soldier of the 93rd
mechanized brigade from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Kucherovskiy was mobilized to
the army in February and was killed in a village of Novoselivka in Donetsk
Oblast. He leaves his parents and a sister in a city of Dniprodzerzhynsk.

Oleksiy Sapozhnikov, 26, a soldier of the 24th unit of
Aidar Battalion. He volunteered to
the war front in November. Sapozhnikov was badly wounded in the battle with
Russian-separatist forces at the checkpoint near the village of Novotoshkivske
in Luhansk Oblast. He died later in one of the Kharkiv city hospitals. Sapozhnikov
leaves his wife and two children in a town of Zdolbuniv in Rivne Oblast.

May 16

Vadym Puhachov, 40, a soldier of the 92nd mechanized brigade from Poltava Oblast. Puhachov, an ethnic Russian, moved with his
family to Kremenchuk when he was a child. Later he served in the army and then worked
as a contractor for a local construction company. Puhachov volunteered to the
armny in August and was killed near the city of Shсhastya in Luhansk Oblast. He
leaves a wife and a son.

May 17

Andriy Sokolenko, 41, a colonel of the Ukraine’s National Guard
from Zaporizhzhya. Sokolenko, a professional serviceman, didn’t hesitate to
join the army in 2014. He also helped to coordinate volunteeres who equipped
Ukrainian troopers. Sokolenko was killed in an ambush while he was on his way
to the village of Troitske in Luhansk Oblast. He was in a car together with
three volunteers, two of them were killed. They were bringing supplies to the
soldiers on the war front. Sokolenko leaves a wife and 15-year-old daughter in
Lviv.

 

Ivan Popil, 21, a soldier of Ukraine’s National Guard from
Lviv Oblast. He took part in a number of battles for Ukrainian city of
Debaltseve, that was taken over by Russian-separatist forces in February. He was
killed near the village of Troitske in Luhansk Oblast. Popil lives his mother
and a sister in a village of Zarichya in Lviv Oblast.

May 20

Andriy Ion, 40, a
soldier of the Aidar Battalion. Ion
took part in the protests on Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti during the EuroMaidan
Revolution and later volunteered to the war zone. He joined Donbas battalion
first, but eneded up as a member of Aidar Battalion. He was killed in the firefight
near the city of Novoaidar in Luhansk Oblast.

Vadym Vysochyn,
22, a soldier of the 93rd mechanized brigade from Kirovohrad. He was mobilized to Ukrainian army in
February, used to work as a military driver. Vysochyn’s comrades recalled he
was cheerful and fair young man. Vysochyn was killed during a shelling near the
village of Kamyanka in Donestk Oblast. He leaves his mother in a city of Kirovohrad.

dead

May 21

Mykola Honcharuk, 30,
a soldier of the 57th motorized brigade from Khmelnytskiy Oblast. He
was mobilized to the army in summer. Honcharuk was killed
during a mortar shelling in Donetsk Oblast’s
Horlivka. He leaves a wife and two children.

May 25

Ihor Shlyamar, 45, a soldier of the 53rd mechanized brigade from Cherkasy Oblast. He
volunteered to the war front in August. He was killed in an ambush near the
village of Komyshne in Luhanskl Obalst. “Ihor wanted to rescue his comrade and
was badly wounded in his back,” Volodymyr Matvienko, local military enlistment
officer, was quoted as saying. “He kept holding a grenade in his hand he didn’t
manage to use.” Matvienko said. He leaves a wife and three children in a city
of Uman.

May 26

Yevhen Marchuk, 27, a soldier of the Aidar Battalion from
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He was an
active EuroMaidan Revolution supporter before he volunteered to the army.
Marchuk was badly wounded while defending the town of Zolote in Luhansk Oblast.
He refused to get a treatment and stayed on the ground with his comrades. He
died later because of the numerous wounds. Marchuk was mourned in his native
city of Kryvyi Rih. He leaves his parents there.

May 28

Serhiy Kozlenko, 21, a soldier of the
93rd mechanized brigade from Kirovohrad Oblast. He had been serving
in the east for the last 10 months. Kozlenko was killed in Volnovakha in
Donetsk Oblast. He leaves his parents in a village of Shyshkine in Kirovohrad
Oblast.

Vasyl Kindratskiy, 52, a deputy commander of the OUN Battalion from
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. He graduate from the Lviv National Ivan Franko University
with a degree in journalism and later worked in a number of local media in
Lviv. He also worked for a local city council and was a deputy head of the
local branch of People’s Movement of Ukraine (Narodnyi Rukh Ukrajiny),
Ukrainian political party. Kindratskiy was
killed during a mortar shelling
near the village of Vodyane in Donetsk Oblast. he leaves a wife, 8-year-old son
and a daughter in Lviv.

May 30

Vladyslav Dyusov, 21, a soldier of Azov Battalion from Vinnytsia Oblast. Dyusov was a
student of Kyiv National Polytechnic Institute, he died three weeks before
getting his bachelor degree. Dyusov was an active EuroMaidan Revolution supporter
and later volunteered to go to the east. He was a member of Kyiv-2 Battalion,
but later ended up in Azov volunteer battalion. He was badly wounded as he
stepped on a land mine near Shyrokyne in Donetsk Oblast. “We heard an explosion
and ran to him; he lost his leg,” Dyusov’s comrade, Bohdan Hryzlo, was quoted
as saying. “He didn’t scream, just instructed us on how to apply a tourniquet.
I’ve never seen such a courageous person before. He’s a hero. ” Dyusov died on
his way to the hospital.

May 31

Dmytro Vasyliev, 29, a soldier of the 28th mechanized brigade from Odesa Oblast. He volunteered
to the army in July and took part in the most fierce battles, including the
hotspot of Savur-Mohyla in June-August 2014. Vasyliev was killed in an ambush
near the village of Slavne in Donetsk Oblast. He leaves his parents in
Chornomorske town in Odesa Oblast.

Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be
reached at [email protected].