First funeral held in Lviv for Ukrainian POWs killed in Russian plane crash

A funeral took place in Lviv on 25 July for twelve Ukrainian defenders who had been in Russian captivity and died when an Il-76 military transport plane crashed en route to a prisoner exchange.

Source: Media Initiative for Human Rights on Facebook

Details: The twelve defenders served in the 24th Separate Mechanised Brigade.

Quote: "Some of the men whose funeral was held in Lviv today had military experience going back to the time of the ATO [the Anti-Terrorist Operation, a term used from 2014 to 2018 to identify combat actions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts against Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists – ed.]. But all of them returned to service, either when mobilised or as volunteers, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Some even left jobs abroad to defend their homeland."

Details: The soldiers were performing frontline combat missions when they were captured. At the time of their deaths, the youngest was 26 and the oldest 56.

The Media Initiative for Human Rights named the fallen as Vladyslav Bobrovskyi, Nazarii Kovalyk, Deuran Tailakov, Yaroslav Soboliev, Serhii Levkiv, Bohdan Dudiak, Ivan Fedeka, Yaroslav Kryvanio, Ivan Okhapskyi, Oleh Kuzma, Nazar Petrykiv and Mykola Trukhan.

After the ceremony, the soldiers’ bodies were taken to their hometowns for burial. Three of them will be buried in Lviv on Saturday.

Background: 

• Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova told Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA Novosti in early December 2024 that Russia had handed over the bodies of the Ukrainian prisoners of war who were said to have died in the Il-76 crash in Belgorod Oblast on 24 January.
• Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed that Russia had handed over bodies it claimed were those of the Ukrainian defenders killed in the Il-76 crash, but noted that further identification of the remains was required.

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