Ukrainian photographer and former employee of Chornobyl nature reserve killed in action – photos
Stanislav Humeniuk, a 59-year-old chief sergeant of the 153rd Separate Mechanised Brigade, photographer and former employee of the Chornobyl Reserve, has been killed in action.
Source: Chornobyl Radiation and Environmental Reserve on Facebook
Details: Stanislav was killed on 22 June 2025 as a result of a Russian missile attack on Kherson Oblast.
"In 2024, he had no choice but to go to the front line. He would have turned 60 in May 2026. But he could not stay aside. Mr Stanislav was one of those who did not hide behind others," the State Agency of Ukraine on Chornobyl Zone Control wrote.
Stanislav Humeniuk lived in the village of Novobratske in the Chopovychi hromada, Zhytomyr Oblast. He created photography and music, performed at the local House of Culture, volunteered, founded the Save Polissia movement and fought against the development of a titanium mine. [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town along with their adjacent territories – ed.]
The man was trained in the Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence organisation (UNA-UNSO) in 2013. He started volunteering in 2012, and in 2015, he fought in the Anti-Terrorist Operation [the ATO or Anti-Terrorist Operation is a term used from 2014 to 2018 by the media, the government of Ukraine and the OSCE to identify combat actions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts against Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists – ed.]. After demobilisation, he actively helped the military.
Stanislav worked in the Chornobyl Nature Reserve from 2018 to 2021. He joined the Ecocentre as a driver after the liberation of Chornobyl. Then Stanislav joined one of the newly created brigades as a chief sergeant in the autumn of 2024.
"He gave us a lot of photos – sincere, warm, with a love for nature. The way he looked through the lens was full of sincerity and respect for beauty. Some of these photos live on on the pages of the Chornobyl Reserve, preserving the echo of light he left behind. War takes the best of us, but the memory of them lives on. And every photo, every deed, every kind word is with us forever," Stanislavʼs brothers-in-arms wrote.
Denys Vyshnevskyi, Stanislavʼs friend and colleague, and the head of the scientific department of the Chornobyl Reserve, also shared his memories of Stanislav on Facebook.
"Stas Humeniuk is killed. A missile strike. An extraordinary man. Lively and sensitive, enthusiastic and principled. He did not like compromises, routine and bad taste. That's why he was both interesting and difficult.
He was a philologist by education and vocation, an activist, a volunteer, and an ATO participant. A truly creative person," Vyshnevsky wrote.
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