Prayer for deceased defenders of Ukraine held in Lviv garrison church and in Kyiv

August 29 is the day of remembrance of the defenders of Ukraine who died in the struggle for its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. In memory of all the defenders of Ukraine, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the garrison Church of Sts Peter and Paul. For five years of the war with Russia, this church saw 93 funerals of heroes of Ukraine.

"It should be remembered that on this day the largest number of the soldiers for the entire period of the war in Donbas were killed in the Ilovaisk cauldron. Memory eternal to Heroes of Ukraine!" the chief military chaplain of the Lviv Archdiocese of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, rector of the garrison Church of Sts Peter and Paul, Fr Stepan Sus wrote on Facebook.

President Volodymyr Zelensky officially made August 29 the Day of Memory of the Defenders who died in the struggle for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. This date was chosen because August 29, 2014 is the day when the largest number of Ukrainian soldiers was killed in eastern Ukraine.

Since in August 2014 the combat action took place in the sunflower fields near Ilovaisk, sunflower became a symbol of grief for the Ukrainian soldiers who died in Donbas, regardless of the date and place of their death.

400 sunflowers were placed under the walls of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv, where the wall of memory is located. A prayer service for the dead was held there as well. It was attended by relatives of those killed in different years of the war with the Russian occupier.

250 families held portraits of their sons, brothers, husbands, put candles in front of the wall and laid flowers.