3.16.22
The last time Michael Hudson saw Nick Nikonov alive, the wiry Ukrainian had just bested him in a fight, bruising his ribs and jamming his thumb. It was 2015, and Hudson, an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, was preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan. Nikonov, an officer in the Ukrainian military, was in the United States for training. He was intensely competitive and loved to spar, Hudson recalled, reflecting on their friendly bout. Though hardened by the fighting he’d seen in Ukraine’s war with Russian-backed separatists, Nikonov had a softer side, too. He was a family man, Hudson said, recounting how his friend brought toy dolls from Ukraine as gifts for Hudson’s daughters and took it upon himself to look in on them while Hudson was overseas. “Just like any Marine you would trust,” he said in an interview. Nikonov was killed last week battling Russian forces around Mariupol, a city in southeast Ukraine that’s seen withering violence. In a Facebook post paying tribute to his friend, Hudson called him a “true warrior and hero.”
His death has shaken close friends, Americans and Ukrainians alike, who have taken to Nikonov’s Facebook page to offer condolences. Many include images of him in one of his favorite places: in the air over Ukraine’s southern coast. In one undated video, Nikonov explains he is parachuting onto the Kinburn Peninsula, where the Dnieper River and Black Sea converge. “I love you, and looking forward to seeing you,” he says. Hudson has not yet made contact with Nikonov’s immediate family, including his wife and two children, but said he intends to help them if needed. Donations to the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation are still flowing to help Nikonov’s unit get medical supplies. The nonprofit assists U.S. military veterans and their families, but Nikonov, having completed the Marine Corps’ grueling reconnaissance training course alongside his American counterparts, made such distinctions irrelevant, Hudson said. “We consider him one of our own,” he said.