Ukrainian mother mourns the death of both sons killed within weeks of each other in Russian invasion

The terrible cost of war has come home to Lviv as mourners gathered for the funerals of men killed on the Yavoriv training base, as Romilly Weeks reports


Relatives and friends of four Ukrainian military servicemen who were killed during an airstrike at a military base in Yavoriv gathered at a church in central Lviv on Tuesday to bury their loved ones.

Colonel Oleg Yaschyshyn, Serhiy Melnyk, Kyrylo Vyshyvanyi, Rostyslav Romanchuk were among the 35 who died and scores who were injured when Russian missiles pounded a military base in western Ukraine on Sunday.

The men were first honoured at a service in the Church of the Most Holy Apostles Peter and Paul before three of the four were interred at Lychakiv Cemetery.

For one mother, just three weeks into the war, both of her sons have now been killed.

Kyrylo Vyshyvanyi was buried in his hometown of Duliby, in the wider Lviv region. His family had previously buried Kyrylo's younger brother, Vasyl, on March 4.


Listen to our podcast for latest news and analysis on the invasion


The facility where all the men died served as a crucial hub for cooperation between Ukraine and the NATO countries supporting its defence.

The attack marked an escalation of Moscow's offensive and moved the fighting perilously close to the Polish border.

It is known that Yavoriv was used as a site for training foreign fighters, and ITV News met a group of foreigners returning from the front line in Kyiv including a British veteran who said they all passed through that base.

Previously the authorities here have said that thousands of foreigners answered the call to help defend Ukraine. The Foreign Office in London has said that it's "urgently investigating reports" that three British veterans were killed in the strike.