Zelensky lays wreath in honor of servicemembers killed in conflict

BY A STAFF REPORTER: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has laid a wreath at a memorial for the thousands of servicemembers killed fighting Russian and Russian-backed forces between 2014 and the full-scale invasion in February. The wreath was laid in honor of the Day of Defenders of Ukraine, which was first celebrated in 2015. “On Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv, in the presence of an honor guard and to the sound of surma, a wreath with flowers from the Ukrainian people was placed at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen Defenders of Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian War,” the president’s office said in a statement. The ceremony comes after the bodies of 62 Ukrainian soldiers were "returned home" earlier this week following "difficult negotiations," according to the country’s Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporary Occupied Territories.