People of Culture Taken Away by the War. 2023
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the ranks of our heavenly defenders have been replenished with people of art: actors, artists, sculptors, philologists, and historians. In this material, PEN Ukraine keeps tracking losses among cultural activists whose stories appear in the information field. As of December 2024, we have collected 145 names. This is not an official monitoring, since we realize that there are much more deceased artists than we know of. The 2022 monitoring can be found under this link.
On December 23, Ukrainian theater and cinema actor, serviceman Bohdan Kolesnyk was killed at the frontline. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he stood up to defend Ukraine. Before long, Kolesnyk was seconded to the forefront. He was starring in TV series such as SuperCops, On-Call Detective, Thumper, Maestro, Go Out Without a Call. Bohdan Kolesnyk worked at the Individuals Theater, Luhansk Academic Theater, and Ukrainian Contemporary Theater.
Bohdan Kolesnyk
On December 11, it was reported about the death of Ruslan Volodin, serviceman, employee of the 1st Dolly cinema industry, technician with the Patriot Rental. Volodin was engaged in production of such famous movies and TV series as Zakhar Berkut, The Cyborgs, The Stronghold, The Unbreakable, The Sniffer. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Volodin was a fire support company commander of the 205th battalion.
Ruslan Volodin
On December 10, it became known that actor, documentary filmmaker and serviceman Andrii Pavlenko was killed at the frontline. He had been defending his homeland in the ranks of the Armed Forces since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Andrii Pavlenko
On December 7, it became known about the death of Vasyl Kukharskyi, theater and film actor. In September, he was heavily wounded during combat operations and had been undergoing rehabilitation. Since 2008, Kukharskyi had been performing at the Drama Theater on Podil. He was known for a part in the movie Maksym Osa and had recently turned 42.
Vasyl Kukharskyi
On November 23, it became known that Oleksandr Menshov, writer and defender of Ukraine, was killed at the frontline. He died due to mortar shelling near Klishchiivka in the Donetsk region. Before the full-scale invasion, Oleksandr Menshov was a writer. He had spent almost half a year in the occupied Kherson with his family and described this experience in his war diary titled Me, Fox, and the Occupation.
On November 17, it became known that Valentyn Dobryi, an employee of the Ukrainian Priority Publishing House, was killed by artillery shelling in course of an intense assault operation. Valentyn worked as a book distributor. He had visited over 42 countries, crossed the equator, and travelled across Africa twice. He voluntarily enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Valentyn Dobryi. Photo: Valentyn Dobryi/Facebook
The death of Maksym Petrenko, writer and defender of Ukraine, was confirmed on November 6. Maksym went missing in summer 2022. That was the second time he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Before the full-scale invasion, Petrenko had participated in the ATO: this experience later materialized in his novel diary about the war.
Mykhailo Balakhtar, the drummer of the Ukrainian group Sertsevyi Napad, was killed on the frontline on October 27. Mykhailo stood up to defend Ukraine since the first days of the full-scale war. In 2004, together with his associates, he founded the punk group Sertsevyi Napad which has released three studio albums.
On September 6, poet Oleksii Ivakin was killed in battle for the Zaporizhzhia region. Oleksii was an inspirer and member of the Kharkiv SLAM cultural center. Before the full-scale invasion, he used to organize periodic poetry readings. Ivakin served in the 82nd airborne assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On August 17, theater and cinema actor Oleksii Khilskyi was killed in battle. Since the age of 18, he had performed at the Dnipro youth drama theater "Virymo!" ("We Believe!") where he worked his way from a beginning actor to a stage master. After moving to Kyiv, Oleksii joined the Vivat theater and began his career in movies and TV series. He stood up to defend his country since the very first days of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Oleksii served in the 46th separate airmobile brigade of Ukraine’s Air Assault forces and took his last fight in the direction of Zaporizhzhia.
Ihor Subotyak, actor, singer, and bandurist, was killed at the frontline on August 7. This happened in Pokrovsk where Ihor participated in a rescue operation after a Russian shelling and got under another hostile fire. The man deliberately returned to Ukraine from Finland on February 24, 2022, to stand up for his country.
On August 4, writer, artist, and defender of Ukraine Oleksandr Zakernychnyi was killed while performing a combat mission in the Kharkiv region. Oleksandr was interested in storytelling, photography, climbing, and painting. His first book Sonny was published in 2019. He enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the very first days of the full-scale invasion. Zakernychnyi posted notes concerning his military service on his Facebook and Telegram pages, and he was planning to release his second book, The Memos of a Voluntary Soldier, after the war; yet it was published posthumously.
On July 30, it became known that actor Eugene Svitlychnyi was killed in battle. Svitlychnyi fought in the ranks of the Honor company within the separate mechanized battalion Da Vinci Volves, named after Dmytro Kotsiubailo (call sign ‘Da Vinci’), the Hero of Ukraine. "Eugene was an Athlete, an Actor, a Warrior, and he died like a Hero, defending our Motherland," director and serviceman Oleg Sentsov wrote of his colleague. Eugene Svitlychniy played the role of Karas in Sentsov’s film Rhino. The movie had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.
On July 21, it became known that musician and serviceman Davyd Yakushyn was killed at the frontline. Yakushyn was a skilled violinist and piper. He graduated from R. Glier Kyiv Institute of Music in July 2022. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he stood up to defend Ukraine within the ranks of the Territorial Defense Forces. Davyd Yakushyn took his last fight in the Ukrainian east.
On July 9, 2022, Oleksandr Osadko, Ukrainian serviceman, private soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, participant of the Russian-Ukrainian war, was killed in artillery shelling near Mazanivka in the Donetsk region. Oleksandr is a honorary citizen of the city of Ternopil (2022, post mortem) and the husband of a PEN Ukraine member Ganna Osadko. His posthumous collection of short stories No Live No Die ("Жити не можна померти") was published by the Old Lion Publishing House.
On July 9, it was announced that Filip Vinner (Dedkovskyi) was killed in the Donetsk region. In his civilian life, Filip Vinner worked with several theaters in Kyiv. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, he took up arms to defend Ukraine within the ranks of the 26th separate rifle battalion. Since December 2022, he has fought at the frontline.
On July 2, Andrii Hudyma, artist and restaurateur from Lviv, was killed in battle with the Russian occupiers near Bakhmut. His book 69 Spices for the Heart was going to be published soon in the Old Lion Publising House.
On July 1st in Mechnykov Hospital in Dnipro Ukrainian writer and member of PEN Ukraine, who has been documenting Russian war crimes with the human rights initiative Truth Hounds Victoria Amelina passed away. Her death was caused by injuries incompatible with life, which she suffered from during the Russian missile shelling of a restaurant in Kramatorsk on June 27th, 2023. This day, Victoria was in Kramatorsk with a delegation of Colombian writers and journalists.
Poet and novelist Ihor Mysiak was killed while defending Ukraine at the frontline. This information came from the Tempora publishing house by the end of May. Ihor Mysiak was an activist of the Revolution of Dignity. From autumn 2014 till the end of summer 2015, he served in the Azov regiment as a medic and rescuer soldier. Enlisted in the Territorial Defense Forces since the beginning of March 2022. He ended up later in the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the First Winter Campaign. Ihor Mysiak participated in liberating the Kherson region from the Russian occupiers.
On June 28, musician Andrii Chepil was killed at war. This happened near the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region during the assault on a hostile position. Chepil used to serve in the military orchestra of the honor guard under the Presidential Regiment. He was a member of cover groups such as Frisson Band and Smerichka and played the trembita with the folk-rock group CoraLLi. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Andrii had fought near Izium and Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region, then he was transferred to the 47th separate mechanized brigade Magura. Andrii completed military missions on an M2 Bradley and was a platoon sergeant.
Poet, musician, teacher, and serviceman Danylo Kononchuk was killed on June 21 while performing a combat mission. Kononchuk established the rock band VYRII, and their first album Dimensions of Dreams was released in 2018. During the full-scale war, Danylo enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On June 13, poet Oleh Kliufas was killed in battle for the village of Rozdolivka near Bakhmut. Oleh served as a senior gunner of a mortar platoon in the 125th brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces. He lived and worked in his hometown of Lviv. Oleh Kliufas was the author of more than 300 unique palindromes. He was also a member of the Miklouho Maclay group which provided research of Ukrainian Cossack songs, and a chorister of the Prometheus male choir. Kliufas had translated many a classic and modern song from English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Georgian, French, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Hungarian and other languages.
On June 8, it became known that Serhii Dovhan was killed at the frontline. In his civilian life, Dovhan headed the Archive Museum of Folk Culture of the Ukrainian Polissia. He stood up to defend Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war and was killed while performing a combat task in the Sumy region.
On June 1, poet, musician, and serviceman Danylo Podybailo was killed at the frontline. He took an active part in the social life of the Donetsk region where he came from. Thus, in 2014 he was involved in pro-European rallies in Mariupol and performed his songs there. Podybailo won the 3rd prize for acoustic music at the Chervona Ruta festival in 2015. He was a co-manager of the festival From the Country to Ukraine. In April 2022, he got out from occupied Mariupol. Because of his military belt, he was detained by the occupiers at a checkpoint near Berdiansk. For all night long, he was tortured at the local police station, but later he managed to escape. After he got to the free territory of Ukraine, Danylo enlisted in the Territorial Defense Forces.
On May 29, journalist and activist Viktor Petrov was killed at the frontline. Petrov lived in Lviv. He was the first editor of the Sykhiv Media outlet (2016-2019), a member of the Institute of Social Initiatives NGO, founder of the What If creative film studio. He was also the producer of his own documentaries dedicated to Ukrainian art: The Code Guardians movie about Hutsul modernism and a series of videos about Stanislaw Lem titled The (Un)Forgotten Names of Literary Lviv: The Places of Lem. Besides, Viktor Petrov established the Horyshche art residency. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he served in the 54th separate mechanized brigade named after Hetman Ivan Mazepa.
On May 9, Ukrainian artist Volodymyr Chornyi was killed in battle with the Russian military. His partner Olena Biletska informed of this on her Facebook page. According to her, Volodymyr enlisted voluntarily in the army despite even the fact that his documents had been lost from the conscription office. Volodymyr Chornyi worked as a set designer on the film Pamfir directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyi-Sobchuk.
On May 4, it became known that Dmytro Kravets, actor, playwright, stage director, and military serviceman from Kharkiv, was killed in action near Bakhmut. Kravets was the author of many plays, scripts, and songs. He established the Kazka Theater in Kharkiv. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Kravets took up arms to defend Ukraine within the ranks of the Svoboda Legion.
On May 3, actor, script writer and filmmaker Andrii Maksymenko (call sign ‘Filmmaker’) passed away. Andrii fought in the ranks of the voluntary battalion named after Dzhokhar Dudaev. On April 20, he received a shrapnel wound to the face. After that, Andrii was taken to Kyiv, underwent surgery in the Mechnikov hospital and was put into an artificial coma. Andrii acted in such movies as Judenkreis or Eternal Wheel, Mermaid, Axe, and in the Barbie’s Wedding series where he had been also one of the directors. He was the script writer for such movies and series as The Seventh Route, Old Colonels and Weekend Romance. Besides, Andrii made the documentary The Man about the life of Viacheslav Chornovil. In 2014, Maksymenko joined the Dnipro voluntary battalion and went to the war. After the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he joined the ranks of defenders once again within the battalion named after Dzhokhar Dudaev.
On April 28, actor Yaroslav Savchenko was killed in battle with Russians near Vasiukivka in the Donetsk region. Yaroslav was a private soldier of a mortar’s battery mortar platoon within the military unit А7376. Savchenko was an actor of the Babylon theater, and he studied history at the Mykhailo Darhomanov Ukrainian State University.
On April 25, Russia shelled the Kupyansk local history museum with missiles. The museum director Iryna Osadcha and worker Olena Vodopianova were killed in the workplace. Iryna Osadcha had been the museum director for over 10 years. During the occupation, she managed to hide valuable exhibits, mainly old embroidered Ukrainian shirts, at the non-indifferent people’s homes.
On April 19, ballet soloist Rostyslav Yanchyshen was killed during a combat mission at the frontline. Yanchyshen graduated from Kyiv Serge Lifar Municipal Ukrainian Dance Academy, and he was a ballet artist at Odesa Opera House. Rostyslav Yanchyshen enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the very first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion. He served as a machine gunner.
The death of Ukrainian musician and serviceman Andrii Kaseniuk became known on April 18. Kaseniuk had played the guitar in the rock band Silver Town since 2012. He enlisted in the army in 2014 to defend Ukraine since the beginning of the Russo-Ukraine war. After a year of military service, he returned to music. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kaseniuk voluntarily enlisted for the second time. His last combat experience was in Bakhmut. On April 17, he got out of touch.
On April 6, artist, sculptor and musician Anton Derbilov was killed in battle for Kreminna in the Luhansk region. He had been mortally wounded in the Russian mortar shelling. In his civilian life Anton Derbilov made miniature busts of outstanding Ukrainian hetmans and military leaders and played ukulele. Since February 2022, he had been serving in the National Guard of Ukraine.
On April 5, conductor and musician Kostiantyn Starovytskyi was killed in the Kramatorsk direction. Starovytskyi worked as an orchestra musician at Kyiv Opera House. There, he staged Gaetano Donizetti’s Rita and was one of the producers and translators of Gioachino Rossini’s The Marriage Contract into Ukrainian. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Kostiantyn Starovytskyi had defended the Kyiv region and then continued his military service in the Kharkiv region.
On March 30, it became known that actor Anton Prasolenko was killed at the frontline. Prasolenko was mortally wounded in the Bakhmut direction. He studied at Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts and played in the Babylon amateur theater.
On March 29, it became known that Eugene Hulevych, culturologist, cultural manager, editor and translator from Lviv, was killed at the frontline. Eugene had been out of touch since December 31, 2022, and he was considered missing thereafter. Hulevych was an author of cultural and critical articles, he edited the Ukrainian translation of Rafael Schacter’s World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti and was engaged in various art projects.
On March 14, Ukrainian scholar, historian, archaeologist, ethnographer, professor and musician Yurii Kovalenko was killed in battle in the Luhansk region. Kovalenko took part in numerous archaeological expeditions and explored the ruins of Baturyn. Since 1999, he had headed the scientific research department at the Hlukhiv National Reserve. In 2014 he joined the Black Tulip mission as a volunteer and was engaged in repatriating more than 150 deceased Ukrainian defenders’ bodies back from the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Yurii Kovalenko enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2020. While on his military service, he defended his PhD in 2021.
On March 9, it became known that Volodymyr Bulba, a co-founder of the chain of music schools Rock School in Kyiv, was killed at the frontline. It was due to him that Ukrainians could see the Broadway musical School of Rock for the first time. At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion Volodymyr Bulba supported the Ukrainian military as a volunteer, later he enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, meanwhile participating in fundraising art projects for needs of the Ukrainian army.
Oleh Drobotskyi, artist and photographer from the Ternopil region, was killed in battle on March 6. Oleh voluntarily enlisted in the army even before Russia’s full-scale invasion.
On February 2, archaeologist Andrii Fylypchuk was killed during a combat mission in the East of Ukraine. Fylypchuk graduated from Lviv Ivan Franko National University. In 2011-2014, he did postgraduate studies at the department of archaeology and special branches of historical science. Together with his father, archaeologist Mykhailo Fylypchuk, Andrii explored the Slavic sites of Ciscarpathia. Since 2015, he had worked as the deputy director for scientific work of the Old Plisnesk Historical and Cultural Reserve.
On January 24, Oleh Sobchenko, a well-known public figure, ATO veteran, air reconnaissance officer of the 72nd mechanised brigade named after the Chorni Zaporozhtsi, was killed in battle with the Russian occupiers in Vuhledar, Donetsk Region. He was fond of history and was involved in the restoration of memorials and graves of the officers of the Ukrainian People's Army (the UNR Army). He was an active participant in the Revolution of Dignity, took part in patriotic demonstrations and spoke in defense of the Ukrainian language.
On January 18, communication manager, leading inspector of the communication department at the MIA of Ukraine, photographer Mykola Anatskyi died in helicopter crash in the town of Brovary near Kyiv.
On January 16, after 4 months of being in a coma as a result of a severe battle wound, Kharkiv historian and antiquarian Valerii Romanovskyi passed away. He was an associate professor of the Department of Cultural Studies of the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture and a member of the Kharkiv Historical and Philological Society. Valerii Romanovskyi taught the history of Ukrainian and world culture, worked on the memoirs of Pavlo Zholtovskyi, and wrote commentary on the memoirs of Yurii Shevelyov.
On January 6, 2023, Vitalii Pyvovarov, a Zhytomyr librarian, was killed near Bakhmut. He graduated from the history faculty of Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University, and was pursuing a postgraduate degree. Vitalii worked in the State Archive of the Zhytomyr Region and Zhytomyr State Administration. He was a numismatist, philatelist, and collected books. At the time of the full-scale Russian invasion, Vitalii was working in the Oleh Olzhych Regional Scientific Library. He volunteered to join the ranks of the Armed Forces.
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