30-year-old Mariupol resident Oleksandr Khadzhava was killed on March 16, 2022, during a Russian airstrike on the Drama Theater. His wife and younger daughter died with him; the elder daughter survived.
He was born in Mariupol, graduated from an industrial technical school, and worked as a welder at a steel plant. He loved his family, cars, and fishing, and dreamed of traveling to Turkey in 2023.
After the start of the full-scale war, the family moved to his parents’ home on Zelinsky Street. Until March 11, they sheltered in the basement; after a strike on a neighboring house, they relocated to the theater.
On March 16, he was working at the field kitchen. Shortly before the explosion, he advised his parents to go under the stairs and brought them food — which saved their lives. At 9:30 a.m., an air bomb killed his wife and daughter on the second floor; he was fatally wounded by shrapnel. His body was dug out on April 20–21; only his watch was returned to the family, and his further fate remains unknown. He is survived by his daughter Valeria, a brother, and his parents.
At 9:00 a.m. — a nationwide moment of silence. The Donetsk Regional Military Administration and the Memorial platform Killed by Russia honor the residents of Donetsk region killed by Russians.