Vladyslav Shein, a 21-year-old Jewish man from the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, died last month fighting Russian forces invading the country.
The Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU), an umbrella organization that unites 180 Jewish communities in the war-torn country, tweeted, "From the first days of the full-scale invasion, he enrolled as volunteer to be sent to the front, where he sacrificed his life for the independence and freedom of Ukraine."
Shein was known in Dnipro as a talented judoka and practiced the martial art since the age of six, winning many honors in competitions all over Ukraine.
The local Jewish community learned of his death in recent days and has since dedicated all prayer and Torah study in several synagogues across Ukraine to his memory, as per the FJCU’s request.
Shein's friends said that he volunteered to fight the Russians in the first days of the war. He would come back home on vacation from time to time and visit the city's Jewish community where he would put on tefillin and pray.
Shein was proud of his Jewish heritage and stood out among his comrades-in-arms as he would wrap himself in tefillin every morning on the front while his uniform was emblazoned with a badge of a Star of David with the colors of the Ukrainian flag and the inscription "Ukraine" in Hebrew.
Shein was pursuing his academic studies at the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University in Kharkiv in recent years before the war cut them short.
According to estimates, Shein is one of dozens of Jewish Ukrainian soldiers who lost their lives fighting against the Russians.
In September, Dima Fialka — who held dual Israeli-Ukrainian citizenship and was a former youth soccer coach for Israeli club Maccabi Be'er Sheva — was killed in battle.
In late October, Mikhel Gennadii from Cherkasy was killed after an armored vehicle he was riding in drove over a landmine. Gennadii was preparing to make Aliyah with his family before the war after falling victim to an antisemitic attack, having already been granted Israeli citizenship, but was forced to stay behind and fight.