The Kremlin has waged a proxy war against Ukraine for nearly four years, which has, so far, killed more than 10,300 Ukrainians. Fighting picked up again along the war front in late December and has continued sporadically since. At least, 40 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed over the last two months, and almost 90 wounded in action, according to the Kyiv Post count based on the information from the military, volunteers and media reports.
International monitors recorded more ceasefire violations in both Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the last week, namely near Stanytsia Luhanska, Zolote and Petrivske. As of noon on Feb. 8, Russian-separatist forces had attacked Ukrainian army positions in the Donbas at least 17 times over the previous 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as injured as a result of fighting near Svitlodarsk in Donetsk Oblast.
Those pictured are Ukrainian soldiers known to have been killed in December and January.
Feb. 1
Oleksandr Rybalchenko, 23, a soldier of the 93rd brigade from Luhansk Oblast. In 2014, he joined the volunteer Luhansk-1 Battalion to defend his native land. He was killed as a result of an explosion near Mariupol on the Azov Sea. He leaves a pregnant wife.
January
Jan. 1
Oleksandr Kovtun, 32, a soldier of the 58th brigade from Sumy Oblast. He signed a contract with the army in 2016 and was sent to the front lines in July. He was killed near the village of Novotoshkivske in Luhansk Oblast. Kovtun leaves a father and a sister.
Jan. 10
Volodymyr Anadymb, 31, a soldier of the Donbas Battalion from Kherson Oblast. He was called up to the army in 2014 and after two years decided to return to the army. He was killed during a shelling attack near the village of Novoluhanske in Donetsk Oblast. He leaves a wife and two sons.
Viktor Sukhin, 37, a soldier of the 34th battalion of the Kirovohrad Oblast. He signed a contract with the army in November and was killed near the village of Pisky when the armored patrol car he was in hit a mine. Sukhin leaves a wife and a 9-year-old daughter.
Hennadiy Vegera, 37, a soldier of the 57th brigade from Khmelnytsky Oblast. Vegera volunteered for the army in 2014, he took part in battles for Horlivka in Donetsk Oblast and Kramatorsk. He was badly wounded in Luhansk Oblast and had to return home for treatment, but made it back to the war zone in 2016. In one of his interviews with the Gazeta.ua news website, Vegera was quoted as saying that his wife didn’t want him to go to the Donbas and burnt his documents. Eventually, he managed to recover the documents and made it back to the army. “My first new year at the war front was difficult, I couldn’t reach my family by the phone, but when I finally did I cried,” Vegera was quoted as saying. He spent four winters in the Donbas. Vegera leaves a wife and three daughters.
Jan. 11
Tymophiy Pukhalsky, 29, a soldier of the 30th mechanized brigade from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He was first called up to the army in 2015. After two years, he signed a contract with the same brigade.
Pukhalsky was killed in a mine blast near the village of Slavne in Donetsk Oblast.
He planned to get married on Jan. 26. Pukhalsky leaves a fiancee in Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast.
Jan. 16
Andriy Vytvytsky, 30, a soldier of the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps from Ivano-Frankivsk. He was an active EuroMaidan Revolution supporter and joined the volunteer nationalist Right Sector group when Russia’s proxy forces launched a war against Ukraine in 2014. Before the war started, he had been studying at the Roman Catholic Seminary in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. His fellows said that Vytvytsky was always smiling and didn’t stop reading even at the war front. He was killed by shrapnel from a mine explosion near Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast. Vytvytsky leaves a wife and a three-year-old daughter.
Mykhailo Dimitrov, 34, a soldier of the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps, led by Andriy Stenpytskiy, an independent military unit. Dimitrov, a native of Cherkasy Oblast, was one of the defenders of Donetsk airport. He also served with the National Guard of Ukraine before joining the Volunteer Ukrainian Corps. Dimitrov was in charge of machine-gun unit. He was killed in a landmine blast near the city of Avdyiyvka in Donetsk Oblast. Dimitrov leaves a father a daughter.
Jan. 17
Dmytro Ivanov, 22, a soldier of the 54th brigade from Poltava Oblast. Ivanov was first called up to the army in 2014 and served with the 93rd brigade. After a year, he signed a contract with his current brigade. He was killed as a result of an explosion under an armored tracked vehicle near Svitlodarsk, the biggest Ukrainian-held town near Russian-occupied Debaltseve in Donetsk Oblast. Ivanov leaves a wife and a daughter.
Dmytro Belyaev, 27, a soldier of the 54th brigade from Zaporizhzhya Oblast. Belyaev started serving in the army in 2016. He was killed in an explosion under an armored tracked vehicle near Svitlodarsk, together with his comrade Dmytro Ivanov. He leaves a wife and a 6-year-old son.
Oleksandr Chopenko, 48, a commander of a machine-gun unit of the 59th brigade from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He was called up to the army in 2014 and returned back home after a year of service. Chopenko wanted to launch his own business when his only son was drafted to the army. He followed his son and volunteered for the same brigade. He was killed during a shelling attack on the village of Hranitne in Donetsk Oblast. Chopenko leaves a wife, four daughters and a son.
Jan. 22
Serhiy Serhiyenko, 29, a soldier of the 54th brigade from Poltava Oblast. He had been working at Astarta Agro Holding, Ukraine’s agricultural producer, as a veterinary assistant before he decided to enlist in the army in October 2016. He was badly wounded during a mortar attack near the village of Luhanske close to Svitlodarsk. He died on the way to a hospital. Serhiyenko leaves a mother and two sisters.
Jan. 27
Myroslav Slyvka, 28, a soldier of the National Guard of Ukraine from Khmelnytsky Oblast.
Slyvka used to work as an agriculture technician at Mriya Agro Holding. He had been serving with the National Guard since 2015. Slyvka was killed during a firefight near the village of Verkniotoretske in Donetsk Oblast. He leaves a mother, sister and a brother.
Jan. 30
Artem Skupeiko, 22, a soldier of the 36th Marine Brigade from Kherson Oblast. Skupeiko joined the army in 2016. He was awarded a medal for defending the port city of Mariupol. He was killed when Russian-led forces opened fire on Ukrainian army positions near the villages of Vodyane and Talakivka. Skupeiko leaves a mother and a two-year-old sister.
Yan Putsulay, 21, a soldier of the 79th airborne brigade from Mykolaiv Oblast. Putsulay had been serving in the army since 2016. He was badly wounded while on assignment near Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast. “He always wanted to be ahead of everyone and kept saying ‘I’m ready to do everything it takes and even more,” Yaroslav Kalashnyk, a deputy commander of the 79th brigade was quoted as saying during a memorial service that took place in a city of Mykolaiv. He leaves his parents in the village of Kalabatyne in Mykolaiv Oblast.
The list of those killed in December:
Volodymyr Maltsev
Dmytro Konokeyenko
Yuriy Rudyk
Andriy Kavyn
Viktor Matyukhin
Ivan Dubey
Andriy Pavlenko
Andriy Tverdola
Hennadiy Parasochka
Oleksandr Proshkin
Fedir Karakonstantyn
Viktor Zelmanovych
Oleksandr Zubchenko
Volodymyr Tymchenko
Pavlo Kornelyuk
Andriy Sypavka
Tymophiy Henish
Artem Hultsio
Ivan Sorokodzyuba
Andriy Borysenko
Oleksiy Orikhovsky
Petro Mykhailyuk
Oleh Shevchenko
Yuriy Zolotariov
Andriy Tovkach
Ivan Shelenhovych
