A Ukrainian Soldier Declared Dead Visited his Own Grave

46-year-old Ukrainian serviceman Nazar Daletsky was released from Russian captivity on February 5, 2026, during a major prisoner exchange.

Officially declared dead in 2022, he returned home to discover that his family had buried someone else in his name due to a catastrophic DNA identification error.

On his first full day back in his native village in the Lviv region, he visited the cemetery – and stood over the grave that once bore his name. NTA.UA writes about this.

A Tragic Mistake: How a Living Soldier Was Buried

In May 2022, during fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine, Nazar Daletsky (24th Tsar Daniel Separate Mechanized Brigade) went missing.

Russian forces captured him; he suffered severe beatings, torture, and significant weight loss during nearly four years of captivity. In 2023, the unidentified remains were examined. Ukraine’s overloaded DNA identification system returned a false positive (reportedly with a 99.99% probability), linking the body to Nazar’s mother.

The family held a funeral in the village of Velykyi Doroshiv in the Lviv region. His mother, Natalia, visited the grave weekly, mourning what she believed was her son’s final resting place.

Video. the first conversation of relatives with Nazar Daletsky, who was considered dead for almost 3 years.

Standing by the open grave, Nazar said with bitter irony: “Not everyone has the opportunity to attend their own funeral and see who cried the most for them.”

The grave had already been exhumed for re-examination, the Ukrainian flag had been removed, and the headstone had been temporarily replaced.

When Nazar arrived in the village, dozens of neighbors, relatives, and fellow villagers gathered to greet him.

Some initially doubted it was really him. His mother brought him daisies—his favorite. Now his family jokes that he has “two lives,” and February 5 (or March 15) will be celebrated as his second birthday.

This is the first publicly known case in Ukraine of a soldier officially declared dead, buried with full military honors, receiving compensation for his family, and then being returned alive.

The Ministry of Defense confirmed that the state will not seek the return of death benefits already paid.

To legally restore his status as a living person, a court must officially declare Nazar Daletsky alive—this process has already begun.

Nazar’s story has become a powerful symbol of hope for thousands of families still awaiting news of their loved ones, and a stark reminder of the human cost of wartime mistakes.