Russia sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a “special operation.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said Thursday that the loss was “a huge tragedy for us.” In the southern city of the Vladikavkaz garrison, near the Caucasus Mountains, relatives gathered for the funeral of Vitaly Dyadyushko, one of two soldiers buried Friday in the city’s Vostochnoe Cemetery. A weeping woman dressed in black kissed the face of the soldier, who was lying in an open coffin, surrounded by soldiers in uniform holding rifles. A Russian Orthodox priest waved incense over the coffin. Dyadyushko, from the nearby village of Arkhonskaya, left behind four sisters and a mother, said local leader Alexander Kusey. “He was from a large family, and he was the only one who offered it. I do not know how the girls will do without him now, he helped a lot,” he said. “He was not married, he did not have a chance, he was young, very young. It is a pity when young people leave life before their time.” As the coffin descended to the ground, a military brass band played the national anthem, and an honor guard fired a salute using automatic weapons. Shortly afterwards, the mourners gathered for another funeral, that of 41-year-old Ruslan Kozayev. An old woman, in tears, gently touched his face. Elsewhere in the cemetery, more than 20 fresh graves were found for soldiers who died in Ukraine. (Written by Conor Humphries and David Ljunggren; Edited by Daniel Wallis)
