RFE/RL photographer Serhii Nuzhnenko was embedded with a Ukrainian unit during an assault on Russian positions near Bakhmut in May in which one soldier was killed. Three months later, he shares photos, and the family's memories of fallen soldier Ivan Minuhaliyev.
One Soldier Remembered: The Life And Battlefield Death Of Ivan Minuhaliyev
This photo, shot near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, shows soldiers removing the body of Ivan Minuhaliyev from the battlefield on May 11.
Minuhaliyev photographed two weeks before his death.
The 36-year-old Ukrainian soldier was taking part in an assault on Russian positions on May 11 when he was fatally struck by a fragment of shrapnel.
RFE/RL photographer Serhii Nuzhnenko was in a position near Minuhaliyev when he was hit. He photographed the soldier's removal from the battlefield and later visited Minuhaliyev's grave in his hometown of Irpin, just outside Kyiv.
Minuhaliyev, aged 6
Nuzhnenko also communicated with his relatives, who shared the following images from the fallen soldier's life and have agreed to allow RFE/RL to publish them here.
"Ivan was a beautiful person with a sincere heart and a kind soul," his relatives said. "He was loving, cheerful, he always helped with household chores. He liked to cook and did so deliciously, and he really loved animals."
Minuhaliyev attends an unspecified birthday celebration.
In a Facebook post, a relative recalled: "Ivan was a happy and good man. How I wish he could have just remained my younger cousin, alive and cheerful."
In 2005, Minuhaliyev signed a contract with Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU). He reportedly returned to civilian life in 2012 and worked in the furniture industry before rejoining the military following Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The soldier left behind a 13-year-old daughter named Yelizaveta (pictured).
An unidentified soldier with a cell phone before the May 11 assault.
In the darkness before dawn on May 11, as soldiers prepared for the assault that would kill Minuhaliyev, photographer Nuzhnenko says he didn’t notice the soldier.
A Ukrainian soldier during the May 11 assault.
Nuzhnenko says Minuhaliyev was around 300 meters away from his position when he was struck by shrapnel.
A 2022 file photo of a cemetery in Irpin
"I didn't know Ivan," Nuzhnenko said, "but in general, it was sad, as is every death that [the Russian invasion] brings."