IVANO-FRANKIVSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Hundreds of residents of the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk turned out to mourn four-times world kickboxing champion Vitalii Merinov after he was killed in action fighting Russian troops.
Merinov, 32, died in a hospital last week after he was wounded in the eastern region of Luhansk, claimed and partially controlled by Russia.
The Ukrainian flag was draped over his coffin as it was carried out of the church on Monday.
“To the hero of Ukraine, Vitalii Merinov, three-times glory,” his friend, Taras Mstyslav, said, with mourners calling out “Glory, glory, glory!” in response.
Citizens knelt on the street during the funeral procession, holding Ukrainian flags, while others threw flowers.
“He was a very active person,” said Merinov’s godfather, who goes by the call-sign “Boriusyk”. “I am not saying it because he was my godson, but because he helped everyone: the children, the people, the needy ones. I am speechless…
“Unfortunately, the enemy takes the best.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year in what it called a “special military operation” to “denazify” its neighbour. Ukraine and Western nations have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for war.
Merinov’s mother and wife were in tears at the funeral, as were several mourners, while his two-year-old daughter Leia bid farewell to his portrait held aloft in the church.
“You can see for yourself, thousands of Ivano-Frankivsk residents came to say farewell to him,” Mstyslav said at the cemetery.
“This is the indicator that he loved people and the people loved him.”
(Reporting by Andriy Perun, Writing by Rohith Nair; Editing by Nick Macfie)
