This story may not move everyone. Even in 2026, after more than four years of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, there are still people who claim that “there is no war there” or that “the Ukrainians are to blame themselves”.
“Chaplain” Oleksandr Olivko was killed in the war in Ukraine
This is one of the mechanisms of Russian propaganda: to blur the aggressor’s responsibility, reverse the roles, and turn the person who was attacked into a co-perpetrator of their own tragedy.
But Oleksandr Olivko’s story is not a story about grand geopolitics. It is the story of a man who went to fight above all for his family, his home, and his Ukraine.
And for me, this is not the story of an anonymous soldier whose name I saw online today.
I knew his family
Oleksandr Olivko was a pastor of a Baptist church in Vinnytsia. His family are believers and have been connected with the Church for years. I myself was friends with his daughter’s husband. We played together in a church music band.
That is why the news of his death also has a personal dimension for me.
Oleksandr was a husband and a father of four. Before the war, his family’s life was closely tied to the community. He was a pastor, his wife was involved in women’s ministry, and the children helped with church activities and camps.
Even before he put on a uniform himself, the war had become part of his life.
For him, the war did not begin in 2022
When in 2014 Russia seized Crimea and began military operations against Ukraine in Donbas, Oleksandr became involved in helping Ukrainian soldiers. He served as a volunteer and chaplain.
Later he also had to explain to his own family why a pastor, a man of faith, believes he should be involved in defending the country.
After February 24, 2022, the answer to that question became even more concrete.
Russian troops entered Ukraine from several directions. One of their main targets was Kyiv.
Olivko volunteered.
He defended the city, the country, and the people among whom was his own family.
“I am not a killer”
It was precisely the question of reconciling Christianity, pastoral ministry, and killing in war that kept coming back to him time and again.
In a report by Suspilne, Olivko explained his position very clearly. He said he had a clear conscience because he does not consider himself a killer—he considers himself a man defending his own country, church, and parents.
The words that stayed with people most strongly were:
I am not a killer. I am defending my country
His military call sign was “Chaplain”.
The pastor did not stop being a pastor. However, the conditions under which he had to protect people changed.
He defended Kyiv. Then came subsequent fronts
Olivko fought from the beginning of the full-scale invasion. First he took part in the defense of Kyiv, then he fought in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions and near Bakhmut. He served in a formation that later became part of the 3rd Assault Brigade.
In time, he became a sniper.
He didn’t only carry out combat missions. He was also involved in selecting and preparing other soldiers for marksmanship and sniper tasks.
Near Bakhmut he witnessed one of the bloodiest chapters of this war.
He recalled very young soldiers—twenty-, twenty-one-, or twenty-three-year-olds—who were dying in combat. He also spoke about people risking their own lives to pull the wounded and the bodies of fallen comrades out from under fire.
It was precisely such people that he called heroes.
His brother ended up in Russian captivity
The war affected Olivko’s family in yet another way as well.
When the Suspilne report was being made in 2023, his biological brother had been in Russian captivity for more than a year. Olivko admitted that for this reason he cannot publicly speak about all the details of his own service. He feared that information about his actions could harm his brother.
So the war entered this family from several sides.
Oleksandr fought. His brother was a prisoner. And according to information published after the death of “Kapelan”, his son and son-in-law also serve in the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
The “Golden Cross” and the “For Courage” Order
His service was noticed by the Ukrainian command.
In 2023, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi awarded Olivko the “Golden Cross”.
A year later, already as a senior sergeant, he received the 3rd Class “For Courage” Order for personal bravery during the defense of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the performance of military duty.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke publicly about “Kapelan”, mentioning him among the soldiers of the 3rd Assault Brigade and thanking them for their courage.
But when Olivko was asked about the future, he did not speak primarily about the military, decorations, or his own achievements.
He only wanted to return home
In one of the most personal parts of the conversation with Suspilne, he was asked what he would do after Ukraine’s victory.
His answer was very ordinary.
He wanted to be home. With his wife and four children. He wanted to smell his home again and feel the certainty that the war was over.
He also thought about other soldiers. He realized that coming back from the war would not end everything. He believed that veterans would need people who had been through similar experiences and would be able to understand them.
He did not manage to carry out his plan.
On September 7, 2026, Oleksandr Olivko was killed defending Ukraine. He was 50. News of his death was shared by the community of Ukrainian evangelical Christians. In the final period, he served in the 1st assault battalion of the 3rd Army Corps.
“There is no war there”
And now let’s go back to the beginning of this story.
You can sit hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine and say that “there is no war there”.
You can see a video from a packed restaurant, a concert, or a club in Kyiv and use it as proof that Ukrainians are having a great time, so the war clearly doesn’t look the way the media show it.
You can say: “Ukrainians have only themselves to blame”.
Finally, you can ask: why don’t they give Russia a piece of land and end the war?
But for a man like Oleksandr, that “land” was never an abstract blot on a political map.
That was—and is—his home.
That was—and is—his wife. That was—and is—his children. That was—and is—his church. That was—and is—the people he served for years as a pastor.
First he tried to help them as a volunteer and chaplain. When Russian troops moved on Kyiv, he took up arms and became a soldier. Then a sniper. He fought near Kyiv, in the south, and near Bakhmut. His brother was taken into Russian captivity. His son and son-in-law are also serving in Ukraine’s defense.
And he himself dreamed of the day when he would finally take off his uniform and return to his family.
He will not return.
Behind the word “war” are real people. Behind every name there is someone’s husband, father, son, brother, or friend. In this case, it was Oleksandr Olivko — a pastor, father of four, chaplain, and soldier who went to defend his own home.
And a home he would never return to.
