The death of Roman Ratushnyi, 24, a prominent environmental campaigner who died while fighting the Russians, has come to symbolise the war’s heavy toll on society
There are funerals every day in Kyiv, but this one felt particularly poignant. Hundreds of friends and fellow activists, clad in Ukrainian flags, gathered on Saturday to pay tribute to Roman Ratushnyi, a prominent political and environmental campaigner who was recently killed fighting near Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv.
“All our brightest, bravest guys are dying. The war’s toll on society is immense,” said activist Ivana Sanina, 23, on Thursday during an earlier remembrance ceremony for Ratushnyi.
