Yurii Kovalenko was an archaeologist, historian, museum worker, local historian, teacher, PhD in History and a member of many expeditions. In particular, he explored the ruins of Baturyn, which was destroyed by Moscow invaders in 1708 on the orders of Peter the Great. As noted, it was Yurii who discovered the location of the main church of the Hetman's capital, the Cathedral of the Life-Giving Trinity, in the northern part of the former fortress.

At the Hlukhiv National Reserve, Yurii Kovalenko worked as the head of the research department. In 2014, as a volunteer, he joined the Black Tulip humanitarian mission, travelled to the temporarily occupied territory of Donbas, where he searched for the bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. Before that, he had been searching for military graves from the Second World War for 26 years.

The Department of Archaeology and Museum Studies at the Kyiv National University, where Kovalenko graduated, notes that in 2020 he signed a contract with the 58th Motorised Infantry Brigade named after Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky. He defended his PhD thesis in 2021 while still in the Armed Forces.

The university calls Yurii Kovalenko "a legendary person for Hlukhiv, Sumy region, and Ukraine."

"You have left our collective family for eternity, leaving as a legacy the most precious thing you collected throughout your life - the history of your people, whose soul you understood much deeper than we do [...] Your soul is with us in the museum exposition and stock collection, scientific articles and dissertation research, in the results of archaeological expeditions and student internships, video filming and excursions. We are all indebted to you," the reserve said.