(28 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Korostyshiv, Ukraine – 28 May 2025
1. Various of destroyed house of the Martyniuk family destroyed by Russian missile
2. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Volodymyr Demchenko, neighbor:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“All the houses were razed and shattered. And the rescue service told me that three children were drowned to death (under the rubble), that’s the kind of trouble.”
3. Mid of priest conducting church service
4. People bringing flowers to the coffins of the children
5. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Yuliia Skok, Roman’s teacher:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“It’s extremely hard to know that Roman will not go to class again, he will not hear the last bell and we have canceled all the celebrations, and we have canceled the graduation, because neither we, nor the parents, nor the children want a celebration. Because for us it is a great mourning.”
6. Funeral service held outdoors
7. Women holding portraits and candles of the children
8. Funeral service workers carrying coffins of the children
9. Crowd following the coffins
10. Family members saying their last goodbye
11. Close of crosses with names of the children in the cemetery
STORYLINE:
Three open coffins — one adult-sized, one medium, and one child-sized — lay inside the Soviet-era Palace of Culture in this northern Ukrainian city, surrounded by dozens of flower bouquets as a church choir sang farewell prayers.
Hundreds of residents stood in grim silence as some wept quietly and others broke down completely.
The farewell ceremony was for eight-year-old Tamara, 12-year-old Stanislav, and 17-year-old Roman Martyniuk — siblings from the same family.
The children were killed over the weekend when debris from a Russian cruise missile slammed into their home in Korostyshiv, a city of 24,000 residents about 100 kilometers (60 miles) West from Kyiv, during a massive aerial attack.
“I saw destruction, great destruction. All the houses were razed and shattered,” said Volodymyr Demchenko, a neighbor of the Martyniuk family, recalling the fatal night when the missile landed 500 meters away from his home.
The funeral underscored the mounting toll on Ukrainian families as Moscow ramps up its strikes amid faltering peace efforts.
It was one of several recent tragedies in which children and teenagers have died, revealing a grim pattern as hopes for a ceasefire fade and Russian attacks continue to affect civilian areas.
“He (Roman) will not hear the last bell and we have canceled all the celebrations, and we have canceled the graduation, because neither we, nor the parents, nor the children want a celebration, because for us it is a great mourning,” said Yuliia Skok, who was Roman’s teacher.
Moscow denies targeting civilians, but abundant evidence shows otherwise.
The children’s father, still bearing fresh injuries, was released from the hospital to attend the ceremony.
He and the two surviving siblings sat beside the coffins — a scene that has become heartbreakingly familiar in a war now grinding through its fourth year.
Their mother remained hospitalized.
At least 209 civilians were killed and 1,146 injured across Ukraine in April, making it the deadliest month for civilians since September 2024, according to the U.N. human rights office and its April report.
The toll was 23% higher than in March and 84% higher than in April 2024.
Among the victims were at least 19 children killed and 78 injured — more than the combined total of the previous four months.
It was the highest verified monthly number of child casualties since June 2022.
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