Killed in Combat: Oleksandr Shapoval, the Soloist of the Ukrainian National Opera

Oleksandr Shapoval, the ballet soloist of the Ukrainian National Opera, died on September 12 in a battle near Mayorsk in Donetsk Oblast. He was 47. A ballet star and an Honored Artist of Ukraine, Shapoval volunteered to join the Ukrainian military forces at the beginning of the russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine and operated a grenade launcher.

Shapoval was the National Opera’s ballet soloist from 2013 to 2021. His colleagues remember him as having “incredible charisma and bright talent”.

“With a grit in my teeth and pain in my heart, I am writing this post and I can’t believe myself. Tonight, 09/12/2022, in an unequal battle in the vicinity of Mayorsk, at the hands of racial scum, a resident of Kyiv, an artist of the National Opera, an Honored Artist of Ukraine and my best friend Oleksandr Shapoval, died defending his homeland. Shapik, it is very painful and hard to accept that you are no more. Sleep, buddy!” a close friend of Shapoval says in a post. His dance partner, Kateryna Kuchar, writes, “The heart refuses to believe it… Today the enemy took the life of Oleksandr Shapoval. Honored Artist of Ukraine, KSBC duet dance teacher. He was an outstanding artist, each of our parties was filled with such life… because he is one of the few who lived the stage… And now his dance has become eternal…”

The news of the ballet star’s death is a disastrous admonition of the hypocrisy and tragedy of russian genocide in Ukraine. The aggressor has always positioned itself as an epicenter of the ballet culture and mastery. Trafalgar writes, “Ballet has been nurtured and revived in Russia for over 300 years. Today this beautiful art form is a national treasure and synonymous with Russian culture.” Yet, Shapoval’s untimely and unjust death reminds us all once more that russian terrorism aims to annihilate precisely what it duplicitously claims to be defending – and the ballet culture and its stars is not an exception.

russian sadism has been devouring the “creme-de-la-creme” of the Ukrainian nation – the talented, noble, and fearless defenders fighting for the unity of their land and for the Western values of freedom and independence. russian brutal aggression has to be stopped, and the bloody mob of evil orcs has to be punished.

Be brave like Oleksandr Shapoval. Be brave like Ukraine.