News Article

IDF lone soldier killed in ramming attack

Sgt. Maksym Molchanov, 20

September 3, 2023 - Sgt. Maksym Molchanov, an off-duty Israeli soldier killed in a truck-ramming terror attack near the central city of Modiin last week, is to be buried on Tuesday after his family arrives in the country from Ukraine.

In a statement Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said the funeral would take place on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Kiryat Shaul military cemetery in Tel Aviv.

Molchanov, 20, moved to Israel from eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv in 2017, leaving his family behind.

Molchanov served in the 411th Battalion of the 282nd Regiment in the 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 on Thursday, six other people, including three of Molchanov’s comrades, were wounded. The Palestinian assailant was shot dead at a nearby checkpoint after allegedly attempting to carry out a second attack.

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