My Visit to a Ukranian Soldiers’ Cemetery
When I was in Lviv, Ukraine this past June, I had the opportunity to visit a cemetery for Ukrainian soldiers who had been killed in the war with Russia.
The cemetery is located in a section of land next to the Lychakiv Cemetery. The section is known as the Field of Mars, which was originally created to hold the graves of Soviet soldiers who were killed in World War II. Many of the remains of the Soviet soldiers have been moved to make room for the Ukrainian soldiers.
Most of the graves I saw belonged to soldiers who were killed since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion last year, but I believe that some of the graves also belonged to soldiers who were killed earlier when Russia began its aggressions in the eastern territories of Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Most of the soldiers in this cemetery were killed fighting in battles farther east in Ukraine, but their bodies were brought back to Lviv to be buried because they were from the area.
During my time at the cemetery, I saw graves with pictures on them that featured the soldiers who were buried there. Most of the graves were also draped with Ukrainian flags and other pro-Ukrainian and religious items.
Some of the graves that I saw had only recently been dug days earlier. Looking at the dates on these graves, I realized that some of these soldiers had been killed just days before my arrival.
Many of these soldiers were in their early 20s — young enough to be my sons. It was particularly distressing to see the mothers and other family members of fallen soldiers sitting by the graves.
One woman I saw, who I believe was the mother of one of the fallen soldiers, really stood out to me. I was taking a rest and sitting on a bench when I saw her. She sat by the grave of a man who was probably her son and did little things to tend to the grave. At times, she looked like she was going to get up to leave but would then sit back down again on a bench next to the grave and remain there. It was as if she couldn’t pull herself away from the gravesite, and I found this to be particularly heartbreaking.
I didn’t see anyone else with their cell phones out taking pictures during my time there, so I tried to be as quick as possible when taking pictures to avoid being seen by anyone who might have thought I was being disrespectful by taking pictures of the graves. However, I believed it was important to take the pictures to document some of the effects of the war.
You can view some of these photos below.
