He returned to front with prosthetic leg: 21-year-old Marine Yevhen Minzhener killed defending Ukraine. PHOTO
Today, 18 August, it was reported that Ukrainian Marine Yevhen Minzhener, call sign "Andatra," had been killed.
The tragic news was announced on Facebook by Yevhen’s friend, serviceman Yaroslav Hrubych, according to Censor.NET.
Hrubych posted a photograph of himself with Minzhener and shared part of their correspondence. In messages dated 1 June, Minzhener said that he was in the Donbas and was leaving on a mission.
"You never made it to visit me at the prosthetics centre, my friend. Before that, we met several times at my hospital in Kyiv, and you energised everyone with your incredible spirit. You set an example and were Spider-Man on a prosthetic leg. But you could never have sat on the sidelines. You were powerful and always will be, kid. Despite his young age, Zhenia was a chief sergeant and commander of a UAV platoon. After being seriously wounded, he returned to service... Today, it was confirmed that Marine Yevhen Minzhener had fallen in battle," Yaroslav Hrubych wrote.
The Ukrainian prosthetics company Levitate Ukraine also reported Yevhen Minzhener’s death.
"Our ambassador Zhenia has been killed. Zhenia loved life. Truly. He was incredibly energetic, always on the move, with character, strength and that special zest for life that was impossible not to notice. He was part of Levitate, our friend and someone we sincerely admired. Losing him hurts us deeply," the company said.
The story of Yevhen Minzhener
In May 2026, representatives of the Unbroken Ukraine rehabilitation centre shared Yevhen’s story. The young man was born in Kherson region but moved to Türkiye during his school years. Minzhener was 17 when the full-scale war began. After turning 18, Yevhen came to Ukraine and joined the Defence Forces.
According to Minzhener, he had been deeply affected by photographs from the liberated city of Bucha and reports of the Mariupol defenders being taken into captivity.
In March 2023, he joined the 38th Separate Marine Brigade, where he became a drone operator.
Yevhen was wounded on 10 April 2025. He and his fellow soldiers were transporting equipment to their positions when an enemy drone operator spotted their vehicle and attacked the Ukrainian defenders. As a result, Andatra lost a leg.
After receiving a prosthetic leg and undergoing rehabilitation, he returned to the front.
In November 2025, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, awarded the serviceman the Cross of Military Merit.
