Soldier killed in ramming to be buried after family arrives from Ukraine Tuesday

Sgt. Maksym Molchanov, the off-duty Israeli soldier killed in the truck-ramming terror attack near Modiin last week, will be buried on Tuesday after his family arrives from Ukraine.

The Israel Defense Forces says the funeral will take place at the Kiryat Shaul military cemetery in Tel Aviv.

Molchanov, 20, moved to Israel from Ukraine in 2017 through the Jewish Agency’s Naale Elite Academy, a program for Jewish teenagers to complete their high school education in Israel. He was a “lone soldier,” which the military defines as troops whose parents do not live in Israel or who are not supported financially by their parents.

This handout photo shows Cpl. Maksym Molchanov, who was killed in a truck-ramming attack near Modiin on August 31, 2023. (Courtesy)

Molchanov served in the 411th Battalion of the 282nd Regiment in the IDF’s Artillery Corps, and was posthumously promoted from the rank of corporal to sergeant.

In the attack carried out on the Israeli side of the Maccabim checkpoint, six other people, including three soldiers, were wounded. The Palestinian assailant was shot dead at a nearby checkpoint after allegedly attempting to carry out a second attack.

Army Radio reports that Molchanov’s family decided that he would be buried in Israel, rather than having his body sent to Ukraine for interment.