Biography

Ivan was an active member of various civic organizations, including «Building Ukraine Together» (BUR), where he founded BUR-East and traveled throughout eastern Ukraine. Ivan is an active civic leader: in 2015, he joined efforts to rebuild schools in Stanytsia Luhanska alongside the NGO «New Donbas.» BUR, together with Ivan, traveled throughout the East, and he later became a grant manager on the BUR team. In 2017, Ivan and his friends founded «The Idea Workshop» in Mirnograd, Donetsk Oblast, which later became the NGO «Shuka.» The idea was to showcase the complexity, European history, diversity, and future potential of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions through cultural and educational events. Also in 2015, Ivan joined FRI. He was active in the Kyiv chapter and participated in its development alongside other FRI members. In 2016, he became the head of the FRI Kyiv Board. Ivan organized educational projects and FRI camps and was always ready to lend a hand. He graduated from UCU with a degree in «Nonprofit Management» and studied community recovery efforts in the Balkans.

When full-scale war broke out in Ukraine, Ivan continued his volunteer work. Together with other members of the NGO «Shuka», he collected and delivered humanitarian aid to residents of frontline areas in Donetsk Oblast and to the military.

In February 2024, he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and served in the 12th Separate Special Forces Unit. He was killed on June 8, 2024, by shrapnel wounds during a combat mission in the Kharkiv region.

Friends and comrades remember Ivan as a person who was always there and ready to help. «He was a light that inspired others,» his friends write.