(10 Aug 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kyiv – 9 August 2025
1. Priest performing funeral service by coffin of Mykhailo Kovaliv, fallen Ukrainian soldier from Azov Brigade
2. Close of Azov Brigade flags
3. Soldiers by coffin during service
4. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Andrii Levchenko, Azov Brigade soldier:
“Azov fighter, friend of Barmatukha, he was born in Sakartvelo (Georgia). You can see the country’s flag alongside the Ukrainian flag. He grew up there, studied there, and came here to Maidan in 2014 for the Revolution of Dignity.”
5. Close of flags
6. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Andrii Levchenko, Azov Brigade soldier:
“He (Mykhailo Kovaliv) said that he would give everything for Ukraine. He also said that Ukraine begins with him. Ukraine begins with each of us. His death is a reminder to each of us of what Ukraine is and how we must fight for it.”
7. Priest by coffin
8. Honour guards covering coffin with Ukrainian flag
9. Fallen soldier’s wife, Mariia Polodchak, near coffin during service
10. Wide of service
11. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Mariia Polodchak, Mykhailo Kovaliv’s wife:
“When we said goodbye to him, when he finally decided that he was returning to Azov (Brigade), it was also extremely difficult for him to make that decision. He cried, but he couldn’t do otherwise. And he wrote to me that this was his last farewell to me. I replied that it sounded very fatalistic. Don’t say that. Say that we will meet again soon. Unfortunately, we met again under such circumstances. I will definitely visit his grave in Georgia. I am glad that I had the opportunity to see him off in Kyiv at least.”
12. Soldiers recite brigade prayer
13. Various of soldiers carrying coffin during funeral procession
14. Polodchak standing by vehicle carrying her husband’s coffin
STORYLINE:
A funeral was held at Independence Square on Saturday in Kyiv to honour fallen Azov Brigade fighter Mykhailo Kovaliv.
The funeral service on Saturday began with a priest’s blessing and was attended by soldiers from the Azov Brigade.
Mykhailo Kovaliv was born and educated in Georgia.
In 2014, he came to Ukraine during the ‘Revolution of Dignity’ and joined the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps to obtain Ukrainian citizenship.
He participated in fighting in Pisky, Donetsk Airport and Pavlopol-Shyrokyne, as well as other operations.
He served in the 24th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
After being wounded, he continued his service and returned to the Azov Brigade in 2024.
He was killed during the full-scale war with Russia this summer.
“He (Mykhailo Kovaliv) said that he would give everything for Ukraine. He also said that Ukraine begins with him. Ukraine begins with each of us. His death is a reminder to each of us of what Ukraine is and how we must fight for it,” Andrii Levchenko, an Azov Brigade soldier leading the service, said.
Mykhailo’s wife, Mariia Polodchak, was among the mourners at the funeral.
Honour guards draped the coffin, soldiers held brigade flags, and the Azov prayer was recited during the service.
AP video by Dan Bashakov
Production: Volodymyr Yurchuk
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