Ukrainian soldier reburied in Bucha

Описание: (18 Jul 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bucha - 18 July 2023
1. Various of aunt crying over the casket of Roman Shadlovskyi
2. Mid of portrait of Shadlovskyi
3. Various of soldiers at memorial service
4. Mid of woman crying at memorial service
5. Various of Orthodox priest conducting service
6. Father of Roman Shadlovskyi crying, holding folded Ukrainian flag
7. Various of soldiers carrying casket
8. Various of Ukrainian flags at cemetery
9. Soldiers carrying casket
10. Cemetery workers lowering casket into grave
11. Various of woman crying
12. Orthodox priest placing earth in grave
13. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Zynaida Nedoleshko, an aunt who helped raise Shadlovskyi and was very close to him:
“Our boy was very kind and positive. He always laughed. He always said, 'Come on, let me hug you.' Now I will only hug him with prayers, and he won’t hug me back.”
14. Wide of Nedoleshko near the grave
15. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Zynaida Nedoleshko, an aunt who helped raise Shadlovskyi and was very close to him:
“You waited, waited, and waited (for a notice of Roman’s whereabouts before his body was found). And it's very difficult. It's difficult now too, it feels like someone has reached into your heart and simply twisted it”.
16. Cemetery workers filling grave
17. Various of cemetery workers putting flowers on grave
18. Wide of graves of unidentified people
19. Close of memorial plaque with number that marks the grave with unidentified body

STORYLINE:
The Ukrainian veteran's gravestone carries his photograph and birthday, but the date Roman Shadlovskyi died is a broad estimate: March 2022, the month Russian forces brutally killed both civilians and military personnel before ending their occupation of Bucha.

Shadlovskyi's body was found about three months later in a mass grave along with the remains of six other people in a forest outside the city near Ukraine's capital. Residents and relatives gathered at a Bucha cemetery on Tuesday to give him a proper burial.

Shadlovskyi turned 27 two weeks before the Russians captured him. For his friends and family, the event created its own fog of war, weeks of uncertainty and waiting that prolonged their grief and undid their attempts to cope with the loss.

It took another year to confirm Shadlovskyi's identity with DNA testing. Some of the bodies recovered along with his had tied hands and signs of torture, Bucha Deputy Mayor Mykhailyna Skoryk-Shkarivska said.

Before his funeral and reburial on Tuesday, Shadlovskyi was buried under a number at a local cemetery along with dozens of other unidentified bodies found in the area after Russian troops retreated. His remains were exhumed just hours before the ceremony.

“It's still difficult now," said Zynaida Nedoleshko, an aunt who helped raise Shadlovskyi and was very close to him. “It feels like someone reached into my heart and twisted it.”

She soothes herself by thinking of what Roman was like before the Russians came to Bucha.

“He always laughed. He always said, ‘Come on, let me hug you.’ Now. I will only hug him with prayers, and he won’t hug me back."

Foreign leaders visiting Ukraine to show support typically start their tours in Bucha and the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, which became synonymous with the horrors of Russia's war because of what happened under occupation.


Many of the locals who came for Shadlovskyi's memorial service and funeral placed flowers on the closed casket. He was buried in a section of the central cemetery called the Alley of Heroes as he was a veteran of Ukraine's armed forces when the war started.








Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...