The May sun has warmed one of the squares most charged with history and pain in Ukraine. In Maidan, in the center of the Ukrainian capital, a photo was placed today - May 22, 2025 - in front of the tricolor in honor of Manuel Mameli, a young Sardinian from Selargius who died defending the country from the Russian invasion.
His photo joins thousands of symbols that remember the fallen in the war for the freedom of Ukraine . Among flowers, flags, photographs and candles, there is now also the face of “Vespa”, the nickname by which Mameli was known among his comrades of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Manuel , who died on May 18 near Nova Poltavka, near Pokrovsk , was the victim of a drone strike conducted by Russian forces. At least seven other foreign fighters lost their lives along with him. Their bodies remained in occupied territory. Mameli was officially declared “missing in action”.
But who was Manuel Mameli? Born in Cagliari in 2000, a proud and determined Sardinian from Selargius, he was a young man full of energy . Only two years ago he took part in an Italian arm wrestling championship. He also did Judo, a sport he abandoned when he left. After graduating from high school in the Sardinian capital, he decided to leave the island and go to France to look for work.
Then the decision to join the International Legion and, finally, the choice to leave, driven, as his friends say, "by an idea of justice greater than himself." He had become an armed volunteer, one of the approximately 20,000 foreigners who joined the Ukrainian resistance after February 24, 2022.
The location chosen for his photo is not accidental. Maidan Square, symbol of the Revolution of Dignity of 2014, is the secular altar where Ukraine honors its fallen. It is there that the Ukrainian people said “no” to repression, it is there that the battle for Europe began.
The tribute to Mameli, the sixth Italian known to have lost his life in Ukraine, comes a few days after Europe Day, celebrated on May 8 in Maidan. On that occasion, about 80 Italians gathered in Kiev to commemorate their fallen compatriots. Also remembered were Antonino, Angelo, Giorgio and Massimiliano, other Italian volunteers who, like Vespa, chose to fight a war that wasn't theirs.
At the moment, the Municipality of Selargius and the family members have reported, there is no official confirmation: it has not been possible to recover Manuele's body, which is in an area under Russian control. Yesterday evening, the mayor, Gigi Concu, and the deputy mayor, Gabriella Mameli of Selargius went to Via Villafranca to bring comfort to the Mameli family, who are still waiting for official news from the Italian embassy .