Families of fallen Ukrainian soldiers protest to demand action on memorial cemetery
"Voices of Fallen Heroes" protest on Independence Square in Kyiv, September 26, 2023. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
Parents, wives, children, relatives, siblings, and friends of fallen Ukrainian soldiers met today in Kyiv on the initiative of the "Sertse naAZOVni" public organization that fights for the rights of the families of defenders who died in the war.
They took to the streets with demands to the authorities to finally resolve the issue of the National Military Memorial Cemetery and allocate the commemoration site not just on paper but in action, Rubryka reports.
"Voices of Fallen Heroes" protest on Independence Square in Kyiv, September 26, 2023. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
What is the problem?
The memorial cemetery issue has not been resolved in over a year. The state only created an official institution, "National Military Memorial Cemetery," which was approved by the constitutional majority in the parliament. For four months, the draft law No. 9240 (3061) and the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 870 of August 19, 2023, have not been signed by President Zelensky.
The head of the NGO "Sertse naAZOVni" Vera Lytvynenko. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
The Ukrainian leadership's failure to pass the law and adopt the resolution, which places the National Military Memorial Cemetery in the Hatnia community in the Kyiv region, greatly outraged the relatives of the fallen soldiers.
"Voices of Fallen Heroes" protest on Independence Square in Kyiv, September 26, 2023. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
The 100 protesters from Kyiv and different parts of the country are infuriated by the delay and the continuous change of decisions.
"Since the summer of 2022, the search for a site for the national military cemetery has been ongoing. This plan still has not been put to fruition," says Vera Lytvynenko, the mother of the soldier with the call sign "Vektor" and the head of NGO "Sertse naAZOVni." "The urns with the ashes of the heroes are temporarily stored in the crematorium or at the families' homes."
Lytvynenko says the families were promised the National Military Memorial Cemetery in the capital in the fall of 2022 to commemorate the heroes with due honor. In March 2023, the site in Bykivnia was considered and approved, but in August, the authorities changed the location for the cemetery for the third time, "moving it out of sight, 20 km along the Odesa highway, near the cemetery where German occupiers who died during the Second World War were buried."
"This is contempt for the heroes and their families," says Lytvynenko, with whom other relatives of the fallen soldiers agree.
Unfortunately, some relatives can come to honor the memory of their deceased relative only to the little flags on Independence Square. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
"Our protest is a signal to the authorities and the cry of the souls of many families who cannot reach the leaders either through letters, press conferences, or through open appeals and requests on social media," Vira Lytvynenko says.
Relatives hold portraits of their fallen but still unburied defenders. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
What solution is possible?
During the protest, mothers, husbands, wives, and other relatives of the deceased held portraits of fallen soldiers and posters with appeals to the authorities, talked about their deceased and how to live when the ashes of a loved one are next to the bed, and not buried with due honors.
The protestors also held a performance exemplifying their point that the fallen defenders were not properly honored and buried. The participants are against the memorial cemetery outside Kyiv and do not understand why the site in Bykivnia was initially approved and is now rejected. They demand the authorities create a cemetery within Kyiv soon because some people have been waiting for the burial of their loved ones since last spring.
A performance at the "Voices of Fallen Heroes" protest is meant to show that there is no place for dead soldiers to be properly buried and honored in Kyiv. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
The head of the Azov patronage service, Olena Tolkachova, voiced the shared opinion of the participants that the families need a meeting with President Zelensky.
"Voices of Fallen Heroes" protest on Independence Square in Kyiv, September 26, 2023. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
How does it work?
After the protest on Independence Square, relatives of the fallen soldiers moved to the Veterans Affairs Ministry building to voice their demands to Minister Yulia Laputinia. Acting director of the "National Military Memorial Cemetery" state institution, Deputy Minister Oleksandr Porhun, joined the protesters with his colleagues. The representatives of the ministry promised to communicate the message to the minister:
- President Zelenky must sign the bill on the location of the National Military Memorial Cemetery in the city of Kyiv.
- The resolution of the experimental project in the Hatnia community should be canceled.
- The families of the deceased need to meet with the president.
- Dialogue with the families must be maintained.
Protest near the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, Kyiv, September 26, 2023. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
Today, the ministry's representatives promised to convey what they heard to Yulia Laputinia and to respond to the protestors' demands before the Day of Defenders of Ukraine on October 1.
Representatives of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, First Deputy Minister Oleksandr Porhun — in the center. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
One of the protestors, Natalia Kravtsova, even suggested:
"If the land in Kyiv is so expensive and difficult to allocate for a cemetery for fallen heroes, maybe we should start a fundraising campaign and buy this land ourselves. We raise for drones. We can also collect for the cemetery."
Participants of the "Voices of Fallen Heroes" protest near the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
Participants of the "Voices of Fallen Heroes" protest near the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
The protestors say the situation surrounding the cemetery, which, according to the leaders' plan, should become the Ukrainian Arlington, is shameful. They also started a petition to the president with a request to sign bill 9240 to create the national military cemetery in the city of Kyiv and to start its construction and called on everyone to sign it.
