— This bullet no longer kills. It now serves as a reminder of the priceless value of a soldier’s life.
— MFF
The Fate of a Soldier | About the Author
Sergey Melnikoff — internationally known by his artistic name MFF — is recognized as a National Hero of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria for his personal contribution to the cause of informational resistance against Russian aggression.
Honors of
Sergey Melnikoff
The Highest State Award
of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
Qoman Turpal
National Hero
of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
2012
"For Cooperation"
of the State Border Guard Service
Ukraine
2025
Full Chevalier of the Orders of
St. Equal-to-the-Apostles
Prince Volodymyr the Great
St. Equal-to-the-Apostles
Prince Volodymyr the Great, 1st Class
Ukraine
2022
St. Equal-to-the-Apostles
Prince Volodymyr the Great, 2nd Class
Ukraine
2019
St. Equal-to-the-Apostles
Prince Volodymyr the Great, 3rd Class
Ukraine
2014
Order
St. Great Martyr George the Victorious
Ukraine
2024
Order
Unity and Will to Victory
Ukraine
2024
St. Michael the Archangel
Ukraine
2023
St. George the Victorious
Ukraine
2022
"For Sacrifice and Love for Ukraine"
Ukraine
2021
Georgian Apostolic Orthodox Church
Georgia
2008
In Memory of the 25th Anniversary
of the Reign of King Birendra Shah Dev
The Kingdom of Nepal
1997
Ashes of War
Created by MFF
The Great Coat of Arms of Ukraine — the first work in MFF’s “Ashes of War” series. It emerged from fragments of munitions collected on Ukrainian battlefields, where fierce fighting against the Russian army raged. In this sculpture, deadly metal is transformed into a symbol of life, rebirth, and resilience.
The Ukrainian Phoenix embodies the eternal cycle of life and rebirth. From fragments resembling feathers arise the wings and tail of the mythical bird, symbolizing the unbreakable spirit of the nation. From a shattered shell emerges the immortal Phoenix — the image of Ukraine rising from the ashes of war.
The installation “Cross of Peace”, featuring the image of the crucified Christ, impresses with its spiritual grandeur. The figure of the Savior is composed of 20,000 small fragments of artillery shells and mines collected on Ukrainian battlefields, and is covered with the highest-purity gold — 999.9. Thanks to its sacred symbolism for the Christian world, art experts are already placing the Cross of Peace alongside the great masterpieces of the Renaissance.
“The Holy Mandylion” — more than a symbol of faith; it is a work of art in which the fragments of war are transformed into a sacred relic, evoking a profound spiritual metamorphosis.
Unlike many works of contemporary art, which often shy away from the metaphysical and the spiritual, “The Holy Mandylion” restores sacred art to its original role — as a bridge between humanity and the divine. This work does not reject tradition; it continues it, reinterpreting it within a modern context. It stands as living proof that, even in turbulent times, art can remain a vessel of timeless spiritual and aesthetic values.
The Third President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, and National Hero of Ichkeria, Sergey Melnikoff, ceremoniously present to the Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Akhmed Zakayev, a sculpture in the form of the national coat of arms of Ichkeria. Created by the American artist from fragments of munitions, this symbolic gift, born from the materials of war, embodies the indomitable spirit and the pursuit of peace. Kyiv, February 24, 2024.
This exquisite Small Coat of Arms of Ukraine is a powerful symbol of resilience, gratitude, and an indomitable spirit. Handcrafted from authentic fragments of mines and shells once scattered across battlefields, it is transformed into an enduring emblem of memory and hope.
Each coat of arms is a unique original, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity with laser engraving on polished stainless steel, and elegantly mounted on a wooden base — creating a valuable and lasting commemorative gift.
One of these symbols of national dignity was ceremoniously presented by the artist to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, serving as a profound expression of respect, honor, and national unity.
The Cross — Voice of the Earth. Created in 2025 from fragments of artillery shells collected on the battlefields of Kherson and Mykolaiv, this cross embodies the pain, dignity, and resilience of Ukraine. Crafted in the Catholic tradition and plated with nickel, it transforms the metal of war into a symbol of hope and spiritual purification. Through it speaks the very “voice of the earth” — honoring the fallen and believing in a peaceful future.
In honor of Albania’s noble contribution to the cause of peace in Ukraine, a majestic Double-Headed Eagle was created, its form inspired by the national coat of arms of the Republic of Albania. The work, titled “The Mighty Eagle of Albania”, stands as a powerful symbol of an unbreakable bond forged through shared courage in the crucible of war. Made from sharp fragments of mines and artillery shells, this unique work of contemporary art transforms instruments of destruction into a testament to unity and resilience.
The Mask of Itzam Kokaj Bahlam — a magnificent Mayan jade mask dating to around 350 CE, discovered in 2021 in a royal tomb at the Chochkitam site near Petén, Guatemala. MFF’s metal replica of this mask is crafted from polished fragments of shells collected in 2024 on Ukrainian battlefields, transforming the remnants of war into a work of art and a symbol of memory and resilience.
“The Silent Uprising of an Angel” — the artist’s lifelong masterpiece, a two-meter sculpture crafted using MFF’s unique technique. For this winged figure, two tons of artillery shell and mine fragments were collected from active battlefronts in Ukraine.
One wing of the Angel was torn away by an explosion, yet this figure carries an unyielding strength. “The Silent Uprising of an Angel” is not merely a sculpture made from fragments of war; it is a voice that pierces the silence, proclaiming that even metal once forged for death can give birth to light. There is no forgetting here — only transformation. And everyone who meets the gaze of this Angel will feel it: the spirit can rise, even when its wings are broken.
The Life of MFF: Through a thousand roads and a million miles, he carved his path. He dwelt among the clouds for years, a wanderer of the skies. For two decades, the stars kept vigil above his solitary tent. For a quarter of a century, he descended into the hushed cathedrals of the deep. He set foot in 153 lands, upon every continent of the Earth. And so the world unveiled itself before him — vast, eternal, and open as a sacred book.
MFF at the highest point on the planet. Everest, 1998.
Sergey Melnikoff, National Hero of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and full cavalier of the Ukrainian Order of Saint Volodymyr the Great, has received numerous international distinctions, including Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service medal ‘For Cooperation’ in 2025.
A descendant of an ancient Ukrainian Cossack lineage, Melnikoff was a dissident and political prisoner during Soviet times. Risking his life, he escaped the USSR together with his wife and young daughter. Following his escape from the USSR, Sergey Melnikoff was granted political refugee status and placed under the protection of a special United Nations resolution, in recognition of his disclosure of medical experiments conducted on prisoners at the Soviet forced-labor camp “Butygychag” in the Magadan region during the Stalinist period. Today, he is a renowned American artist and pioneer of revolutionary photographic techniques.
Melnikoff is the only photographer in history whose works have been accepted as personal gifts by world leaders: U.S. President George Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, Pope Francis I, King Birendra of Nepal, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, the 14th Dalai Lama, Pope Benedict XVI, Ukrainian Patriarch Filaret, and many others.
His public artistic persona is symbolized by none other than His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
The artist has worked in 150 countries across all continents and ranks among the ten most influential figures in contemporary art. In cinema, he made his mark as the director of Hour of Adventure, Treasure Hunters, and In the World of Wild Animals There Is No Place. He spent over ten years in the Himalayas and Tibet, frequently filmed on Mount Everest, and dedicated many years to underwater photography in seas across the globe.
In 2020, it was at his initiative—and for his personal media project—that Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon renamed the second-highest peak of the Pamirs: replacing the Soviet name Korzhenevskaya Peak with Peak Ozodi (Freedom).
Melnikoff is also the author of The Genius — the world’s first AI-generated portrait of a living person, depicting Academician Borys Paton.
In 2014, together with the legendary Paton, he founded the International Charitable Foundation Soul of Ukraine.
In the first year of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, Melnikoff established a creative workshop in Odesa, where his art experienced a rebirth. Transforming fragments of lethal metal into images of memory and hope, he forges sculptures from the “ashes of war,” which have become symbols of resilience and are recognized worldwide as masterpieces of contemporary art.
The honors and achievements of Sergey Melnikoff affirm him as one of the most decorated and influential artists of our era.
The eminent Ukrainian scholar of global stature, Academician Borys Paton, chaired the Supervisory Board of the International Charitable Foundation Soul of Ukraine — established by Sergey Melnikoff — from its founding in 2014 until his passing in 2019. Under his wise leadership, the Foundation gained high international recognition as a humanitarian institution dedicated to upholding cultural and moral values.
Sergey Melnikoff and Academician Borys Paton, President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, discuss the establishment of the International Charitable Foundation Soul of Ukraine. Kyiv, Ukraine. 2014.
“This time, the competent authorities proved incompetent in discovering where and how he crossed the Soviet border with his wife and one-year-old daughter…”
1989
MFF is the only photographer in the history of art whose works have been accepted as personal gifts by world leaders, including U.S. President George Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, Pope Francis I, King Birendra Shah Dev of Nepal, the 14th Dalai Lama, Pope Benedict XVI, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia, Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus’-Ukraine, among other global figures.
Installation of the giant banner for Sergey Melnikoff’s solo exhibition Land of the Moon-Faced Beauty on the building of the Gapar Aitiev National Museum of Fine Arts in the capital of Kyrgyzstan. The cost of producing and mounting a banner of this size exceeded $5,000, yet sponsors were undeterred, and the main exhibition poster—displayed opposite the Hyatt Regency hotel in the city center—was replaced weekly. Bishkek, 2008.
Man of Dreams – Melnikoff Fuji Fuji
By Tetiana Alexandrova
Art Director of the Soul of Ukraine, an International Charitable Foundation
If there is anyone far removed from the conventional notion of “tourism,” it is Sergey Melnikoff. The American photographer ventured into Tibet long before tourists were even known there. On foot, he traversed thousands of kilometers along the “Roerich Trail” through the Great Himalayas, passing through Leh and Ladakh. He explored the headwaters of the Indus, the Brahmaputra, and the Ganges. He photographed in the restricted province of Mustang, pursued by the entire police force of the Nepalese kingdom. He underwent training for a flight to the space station Mir. For his film about a sunken military bomber off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the president of an American aviation corporation rewarded him with a flight on a spaceplane. He discovered the steamship Chelyuskin on the floor of the Chukchi Sea. He photographed on Everest four times. He even achieved the official renaming of the second-highest peak in the Pamirs — from the Soviet name Korzhenevskaya Peak to Peak Ozodi (“Freedom”) — as part of his own promotional project.
His long life has contained it all: flights around the world in vintage aircraft, underwater filming of sharks in the open ocean, mountaineering expeditions to the planet’s highest peaks, rafting down mysterious taiga rivers, explorations of giant caves, and a flight to the edge of space.
Such is the diverse and astonishing world of Sergey Melnikoff’s adventures. Every continent and ocean, every country and people have seen the man with his ever-present cameras in hand. Sergey Melnikoff is among the most prestigious and highly valued photographers on the planet. His exclusive works adorn the homes and villas of many celebrities, including Sir Elton John, U.S. President George Bush, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, King Birendra of Nepal, and the renowned Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky. Some of his clients are no longer alive; others are only now discovering this outstanding master of light, for Sergey Melnikoff has ceaselessly traveled the world for more than half a century.
Few today have lived such an adventure-filled life or seen as much as the author of these extraordinary photographs and films about the nature of mountains and seas. The Himalayas and Tibet, the Cordilleras and the Andes, the Tien Shan and the Pamirs, the Alps and the mountains of Antarctica — there are few places on Earth that have not welcomed the master with his faithful camera, crafted nearly half a century ago especially for him by Japan’s Fuji Corporation.
Sergey Melnikoff — known in the art world as MFF — has the honor of having his work introduced by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
In 2007, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was presented with Sergey Melnikoff’s piece Ama Dablam by representatives of the European Union. In this photograph, he shows the artwork, with Junsei Terasawa — Japanese Buddhist monk and head of the Nipponzan Myohoji Order in Ukraine and Central Asia — standing on the left.
In the official account of the FSB, the 2010 Moscow uprising attempt was attributed to the Caucasus Emirate and to Sergey Melnikoff — branded by Russian security services as “the absolute enemy of Russia” and an American ideologist of military coups. The narrative claimed that he had collaborated with the mujahideen in Afghanistan against Soviet troops, leading them to Soviet weapons depots and smuggling explosives into international barracks, thus “sending compatriots to Allah.”
Italian newspaper “Manifesto”
2011
There is nothing more beautiful than Mother Nature — and the personal works of Sergey Melnikoff are the finest proof of this truth. Years spent in the world’s most remote corners, an exceptional gift, the persistence of a naturalist, and an unrelenting drive to explore have enabled him to create masterpieces of breathtaking beauty. A discerning artist of refined taste, and a member of the world’s elite of super-professionals, he has captured countless majestic images of our planet — from the eternally snowbound slopes of the mountains to the swampy thickets of the jungles.
The metaphysics of Sergey Melnikoff’s photography lies in the elusive, almost ineffable state of nature itself. It emerges beyond the complex technique, the mastery of shaping natural light, the days-long wait for a single sunbeam. It rests in what we call talent — something beyond rational explanation. His art is deeply spiritual, perhaps carried from the hidden corners of Tibet, and it breathes an air of mystery. No wonder the artist has traversed on foot all the mountain ranges of the world across six continents. This, multiplied by three higher educations and encyclopedic knowledge, forms the uniqueness of his photographic art.
And yet, this world-renowned master insists that he is not a classical photographer. Using equipment created by Fuji in a one-of-a-kind edition, he says he works not from formal training in photography — which he never studied — but by listening to the call of his heart and the instincts of his intuition.
— “I wait for the moment to be born that I want to reveal in the photograph,” says the maestro.
Over more than half a century of nonstop travel, Sergey Melnikoff has journeyed to every continent on Earth, including Antarctica, capturing images in over 150 countries with his camera.
Photo shoot in Monument Valley, USA, 2009.
“There are entire countries in the world that would gladly deny him entry if they were not concerned about press attention or in need of international PR specialists of his caliber. Yet the main label attached to this extraordinary man outweighs all else with chilling conciseness: ‘Enemy of Russia.’ This is how the media of the neighboring state officially refer to him, automatically counting him among the powerful of the world.”
Information Agency “Georgia Online”
2011
Persistent legends surround the mountain photographer. They say that the “eternal wanderer” possesses an almost mystical gift — the ability to scatter clouds and “halt” the rain at the very moment he sets his heavy ten–kilogram camera on the tripod. Such stories are told by renowned alpinists who met him on the world’s summits, as well as by journalists fortunate enough to join his expeditions.
Melnikoff is an American only by passport. By calling, he is a citizen of the world. He has lived and worked for long periods in some of the planet’s most exotic countries: Nepal, India, Malaysia, Peru, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, China, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Thailand… International rankings place him among the select few professionals of the highest caliber, those who master their craft in the most extreme natural conditions — on mountains, under water, in jungles, and in caves. The very concept of space tourism belongs to him: back in 1994 he authored the program “Space Tourist” and even underwent training for a flight to the orbital station Mir.
Sergey Melnikoff is the author of several books and countless films for cinema and television. He is the creator, director, and cameraman of international TV series such as Adventure Hour, Treasure Hunters, and No Place for Wild Animals in the World. On his fiftieth birthday, he mounted an expedition to Victoria Falls and managed to capture a lunar rainbow above this formidable wonder of Southern Africa. According to local lore, such a phenomenon can be seen only once in a generation.
MFF ushered in a new era in photographic art by being the first to use Artificial Intelligence to create a portrait of a living person.
Members of the International Charitable Foundation “Soul of Ukraine” presented the world’s first AI-generated photographic portrait of a living person at a gala evening celebrating the 100th birthday of the Foundation’s Chairman of the Board, academician Borys Paton. This portrait, depicting Borys Paton, was titled The Genius. Brovary, 2019.
“We are not dealing merely with political rogues. We are dealing with a criminal state — criminal throughout its entire modern history! The Russian-speaking population has been reduced to complete moral decay. It seems to me that at least 60 to 70 percent of Russia’s people are moral degenerates. If a farmer’s herd were half composed of such frenzied animals, what could he do with it? Russia needs to be dismantled into numerous small states, most of which should be placed under external administration.”
From an interview with the Information Agency “Georgia Online”
2008
Even during Soviet times, Sergey Melnikoff gained renown through a series of extraordinary expeditions. In the 1980s, he twice surveyed the historic sailing frigate Pallada in the Tatar Strait. In the icy depths of the Chukchi Sea, he discovered the Chelyuskin steamer, which had sunk in 1934. This “citizen of the world” was also granted the rare honor of bestowing names upon new mountain peaks in the 21st century. Among his achievements is Coubertin Peak in the Pamirs, first ascended by him as part of an international expedition filming for the 1996 Olympic Games. In 2002, at the request of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, he organized and led an expedition to a nameless peak in the Tien Shan. His 14-year-old daughter, Anastasia, upon reaching the summit, officially named it Peak September 11 in memory of the victims of the American tragedy. A television documentary of this ascent was broadcast across the United States, and a panoramic photograph of the peak was presented by President Akayev to the President of the United States as an official gift from the Kyrgyz people.
One of the most sensational expeditions came later that same year with the discovery of a silver reliquary on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, believed to possibly contain the relics of the Evangelist Apostle Matthew. The project brought together such eminent figures as Steven Spielberg, writer Chingiz Aitmatov, several heads of state, and Pope John Paul II.
The Order of Saint Michael the Archangel was conferred upon the artist by His Holiness Patriarch Filaret for creating the sculpture Great Coat of Arms of Ukraine from fragments of shells — a symbol of the unyielding resilience of the Ukrainian people in the face of the Russian invasion.
Sergey Melnikoff with Patriarch Filaret at St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv. The artist is the only foreigner to hold all degrees of the Ukrainian Orders of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Volodymyr the Great. His Holiness Patriarch Filaret has served as the patron of the International Charitable Foundation “Soul of Ukraine” since its founding by Sergey Melnikoff in 2014.
“Never bend to circumstances! Never betray the dream of your childhood! Never cast pearls before swine! Call the Russian world what it has always been, is, and will be — a bloody, stinking, plank-filled latrine. A world of moral degenerates.”
From a speech at the Council of Chechen Elders in Europe
2024
A former board member of the Soviet Cultural Foundation, Sergey Melnikoff endured long imprisonment in Soviet labor camps for his free-thinking, dissident views and outspoken calls to put the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on trial. The North Korean regime sought his arrest for unauthorized filming inside its labor camps on the Soviet Far East. In the late 1980s, he escaped the USSR with his family, fleeing through Mongolia into China. Granted political refugee status by decision of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees—only the third such case in the history of Soviet dissent—his family was evacuated from China to Thailand, and from there to America, by personal order of President Ronald Reagan.
In the United States, Melnikoff served as an independent consultant to the Pentagon on the commission investigating missing American prisoners of war (POWs/MIAs). In 1994, he authored the controversial bestseller American POWs — Always a Commodity, a searing critique of U.S. military practices. In 2005, he opened the first namesake MELNIKOFF Art Gallery in South Florida.
The American photographer of Cossack descent conceived an extraordinary mission: to hold a unique photo session in Ukraine titled The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, inviting 100 renowned personalities to participate. The photoshoot is intended to serve as a cornerstone of a global charitable project benefiting Ukrainian children who have lost limbs.
The most expensive photo session in the history of photography. Shooting the panoramic series Soul of Ukraine, featuring 800 costumed performers from Ukraine’s leading musical ensembles. Kyiv, 2013.
“On April 12, 2024, a ceremonial event took place at the General Representation of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in Ukraine. The distinguished American photographer and philanthropist Sergey Melnikoff was granted citizenship of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The event was attended by representatives of the media and the public, military volunteers, and members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
State Information Agency “Chechen Press”
2024
Since 2012, a new chapter began in the artist’s life. Returning to the homeland of his ancestors, Ukraine, Serhiy Melnykoff, together with the President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Borys Paton, founded the International Charitable Foundation Soul of Ukraine. Volunteers of the Foundation carried across the world a monumental open-air photo exhibition — People of Maidan. For this project, Melnykoff created thousands of photographs during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, finding himself with his unique cameras in the very heart of the nation’s historic events.
In the year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of peaceful Ukraine, the artist did not return to America but established a creative workshop in war-torn Odesa, only a few dozen kilometers from the frontline. There, under relentless bombardments, he has been forging striking sculptures from the fragments of artillery shells and mines — works that instantly became recognized as global masterpieces. Among them are the Ukrainian Phoenix, the iron icon The Holy Mandylion, and the monumental Cross of Peace with its Golden Crucifix.
In the winter of 2025, Melnykoff organized an unprecedented project in the history of world art — the nationwide presentation of the Cross of Peace with the Golden Crucifix, from Ivano-Frankivsk to Kharkiv. It was thanks to his vision, and for the first time since the Great Schism of 1054, when he created a Cross according to the traditions of the three main Christian confessions — Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism — that Pope Francis publicly called upon Christians across the world to celebrate Holy Easter on one common day.
Today, the American artist with a Cossack heart is creating yet another monumental masterpiece out of countless fragments of war — a two-meter-high figure of a wounded Angel named Ukraine, whose silent cry ascends to the Heavens.
A true pinnacle for an artist is when his art moves people to their knees.
Sergey Melnikoff at work on the installation Cross of Peace, where the figure of the Savior, adorned with the Golden Crucifix, emerges as a symbol of faith, renewal, and an indomitable spirit rising from the ashes of war. | Photo by Maria Universaluk
Hero of Ichkeria and American citizen Sergey Melnikoff on March 1, 2014, washed the Russian flag in front of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv:
“I am washing this flag, which has become a filthy and blood-stained rag, as a protest against the beginning of the occupation of free Ukraine by Russian orcs.
I do not pretend that this gesture will stop the military aggression or even make Russians reflect. It is time to call things by their proper names: the cause of all this horror, not only on the beautiful land of Ukraine but everywhere the boot of the Russian soldier steps, is not Putin and his clique. The cause is the Russian people, degenerated through centuries of Chekist selection, the descendants of executioners and jailers.
The 142 million small-minded, spiritually impoverished, and vicious dwarfs are guilty, ready to trample and kill the sprouts of freedom worldwide, dragging humanity into a Third World War, this time nuclear!
And if this war is destined to begin on the land from which my Cossack lineage originates, I would like to proclaim a slogan long deserved by the Russian people: Cargo 200 — to every Russian family!”
“Chechen News”
2014