Apteker, who moved to Ukraine before the war broke out, had his life upended when Vladimir Putin's forces launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 of the Eastern European nation of 38 million people.
He had bought an apartment in Kyiv in 2015 and started a new life in the city, attracted by the country's tech scene. He married a local woman, Marta, with whom he has a young son. Both Marta and his son are now refugees from the war, living in Poland.
Apteker had a storied technology career as co-founder of Internet Solutions and is also well known for movies, including the critically acclaimed South African productions Material and Beyond the River .