Kyiv Bids Farewell to Marek Rusek-Wolski, Polish Volunteer Killed During Ukraine Aid Mission

Mourners gathered at St. Alexander's Roman Catholic Church in Kyiv on August 7 to bid farewell to Marek Rusek-Wolski, a Polish volunteer killed by a Russian drone strike on his car during a humanitarian mission in Ukraine.

A correspondent for Suspilne, Ukraine's public broadcaster, reported on the service.

Rusek-Wolski died in the Kharkiv region in late July. The group "Together for Ukraine,"  which he administered, first announced his death on July 30, stating that a Russian drone had fatally struck him.

On August 7, Poland’s Chargé d’Affaires in Ukraine, Piotr Łukasiewicz, confirmed to journalists that a Russian drone had hit the volunteer's car as he arrived once more on a humanitarian mission. He was 42.

Rusek-Wolski had traveled to Ukraine regularly since 2023, delivering food, medicine, and essential supplies to residents of frontline districts, particularly in the Kharkiv region. He also carried aid for animals and organized charity fundraisers to buy relief goods.

Last month, he wrote that he had also joined efforts to recover the bodies of frontline residents killed by Russia. He documented the missions on Facebook, posting images of the destruction Russian attacks left across towns and villages in the Kharkiv region.

Senior officials from both governments attended the ceremony, including Acting Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine's ambassador to Poland Andrii Bodnar, and Poland's chargé d'affaires in Ukraine, Piotr Łukasiewicz, according to Suspilne.

Sybiha recounted that, from the war's outset, the volunteer "traveled to frontline areas, where the heaviest fighting rages," carrying medicine and food and helping evacuate the elderly and children. He described Rusek-Wolski as one of many Poles who understood that Ukraine had to be helped, each in their own way.

"He proved through concrete actions that solidarity is not an abstract slogan," Sybiha stated. He noted that the volunteer had personally driven aid into frontline regions. "He did this at the call of his heart. It was his choice. The choice to do good, to help people. And we will never forget it," the minister added.

Łukasiewicz confirmed that Rusek-Wolski will be buried in Poland, in keeping with his family's wishes.

The killing added to a pattern of Russian strikes on foreign and local aid workers near the front. In June, shelling of the village of Novopetrivka in the southern Kherson region killed a 24-year-old demining specialist with Norwegian People's Aid and wounded four colleagues, two of them left in critical condition.

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