‘I will be proud of you forever’: A funeral in east Ukraine

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Around 50 mourners escort two caskets draped in satin fabric through a leafy cemetery in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, family members of two soldiers killed last week on the nearby front. One casket is opened to reveal the military fatigues-clad body of 48-year-old Oleh Panchenko, which bore visible face injuries. “Our hero, I will be proud of you forever,” Panchenko’s mother, Lilia, said through fits of uncontrolled sobbing as she leant over her son, kissing his forehead. The funeral Thursday in Pokrovsk brought the number of Ukrainian soldiers buried there to 20, most killed while fighting in the eastern Donbas region since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24.