'More Died Than Remained Alive': Kyiv Honours Fallen Soldiers

Kateryna Nosko hung two portraits on a wall in Kyiv as Ukraine marked a day of remembrance on Thursday for the soldiers who died defending the country under the shadow of Russia's invasion.

"I came to honour the memory of defenders who died for Ukraine. I also brought, unfortunately, new portraits to hang on this wall," Nosko told AFP next to the memorial to the fallen.

The photographs she added to the wall covered with portraits of soldiers were of "two friends", the 34-year-old said.

One, Oleksandr, died in the southern Zaporizhzhia region after volunteering to fight, she added.

As the bells of St Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery rang out in the capital, officials and civilians came to the wall of remembrance to pay their respects.

"Young people who could have lived, made plans and raised children (instead) put on military uniforms, defended our country and gave the most valuable thing -- their lives -- for the sake of the future," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Each year, Ukraine holds its remembrance day for fallen fighters on the anniversary of the 2014 Battle of Ilovaysk, one of the deadliest battles fought between Russian and Ukrainian forces before the full-scale war of 2022.

Many who came to pay their respects carried sunflowers symbolising the battle, where hundreds of trapped Ukrainian soldiers were killed by Russian troops as they tried to retreat from the town in eastern Ukraine.

The soldiers had been granted safe passage through a field of sunflowers, Ukrainian officials said, but were instead slaughtered there.

"While exiting, more died than remained alive," said Oleksandr, who survived the battle.

The Ilovaysk massacre followed weeks of battles around the town which led to Ukrainian forces in the area becoming surrounded. Most died trying to break through the enemy ranks.

Around 366 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, more than 400 wounded and 300 captured, according to Kyiv officials.

Darya Zatyliuk said she had to wait three years for final confirmation that her brother had died in the battle.

"We did three DNA tests, because only a part of his skull and a thigh bone remained," she said.

Her family comes from the Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014 in an annexation that paved the way to February 2022's full-scale invasion.

Her brother "always said that there would be a full-out war with Russia," Zatyliuk added.