Documentary film released about fallen journalist and soldier Maksym Medynskyy

Zavdyaky, an online memorial dedicated to the lives of fallen soldiers, released a biographical documentary about Maksym Medynskyi, a Ukrainian defender, volunteer, communications specialist, and journalist who died in the line of duty, as reported by Chytomo, citing representatives of the memorial.

Maksym Medynskyy. Photo from open sources

The film compiles recollections from relatives and friends alongside archival footage and video recordings. These materials help viewers understand Medynskyy’s character, passions, plans and dreams, and the reasons behind his decisions.

Originally from Bolhrad in the Odesa region, Medynskyy graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, specializing in publishing and editing. He previously worked at the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine.

He first volunteered for the front lines in 2014 and returned to defend Ukraine again in 2022. Medynskyy is survived by his wife and three-year-old daughter.

In February 2022, the journalist gave an interview to the “Residents of Kyiv” project. He recounted growing up in a military family; his father was a military journalist, and his mother, a teacher by occupation, also served. Medynskyi’s childhood friends were also children of military personnel who, like him, dreamed of becoming paratroopers from a young age.

“I was never afraid of losing my life, only of losing it in some foolish way. Therefore, the question of whether to go to war did not arise. There is a war in my country, so I must defend it,” Medynskyy wrote in 2016.

Having returned from the war in 2015, he planned to start a family.

“But now I am ready to go to war because I don’t want to live in the Soviet past. Many things in our current reality do not suit me. However, these internal problems cannot be compared under any circumstances with the possibility of another occupation. I never wanted to leave here, and I still don’t. However, there are times when I feel completely fed up with everything. Yet, I don’t want to live anywhere else,” he said in the 2022 interview.

Medynskyy died on April 29, 2022, during a battle near Kharkiv as a result of enemy artillery fire. He was posthumously awarded the Order “For Courage” III degree and the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyy III degree.

The Zavdyaky project was created to commemorate the fallen defenders of Ukraine. The platform aims to share the stories of individuals who have died protecting Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War from 2014 to the present day.

The first documentary is about a fallen soldier, volunteer, and commander of an Armed Forces of Ukraine reconnaissance group, Yara Batoha. It was released in February 2025. The Zavdyaky platform has two formats: a website where individuals can fill out a form about a fallen person, which becomes their profile, and if relatives agree, the project team films a documentary about the hero.

The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy recently announced the establishment of a charitable foundation named after Mykola Rachko, a serviceman and journalist who died in the war.