Shapoval, 47, retired from a long dancing career at the National Opera last year and began teaching in Kyiv before joining a territorial guard to defend the capital after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.
He later volunteered to join the army and fought in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, scene of some of the war's most intense fighting.
"To lose a friend is always very hard. To me he was a friend, brother-in-arms. He was a very decent person. My soul is empty. To me he will forever be alive," said Roman Turshyiev, who fought alongside Shapoval in the same unit.
