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A Ukrainian tattoo artist keeps count of the clients he’s lost to war

By Jason Bellini Oct 15, 2026 | 8:25 AM

More than 50 people who wear Yuliks tattoos have been killed in the war in Ukraine. The tattoo artist keeps count. Now he is a soldier, too.

 

Its sad burying your own work, he said.

 

We spent two days inside Tattoo Hall in Dnipro, a city about 60 miles from the front line, to see who walked through the door.

 

A soldier arrived five days after a Russian drone strike wounded him, wanting a tattoo before returning to the fight. A 17-year-old chose one word for his first tattoo: acceptance. A man carried a memorial to his childhood best friend, killed at Bakhmut.

A young woman who survived the 2023 Russian missile strike that took her family sat for the needle.

Tattoos are meant to last a lifetime. In the fifth year of Russias full-scale invasion, that promise carries a different weight.

Watch the full documentary above.