Funeral for Ukraine civilian turned army volunteer

(17 May 2022) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Zorya Truda - 16 May 2022 1. Various of mourners during funeral procession for Ukrainian volunteer soldier Volodymyr Losev 2. Procession paused at crossroads as per tradition, family of soldier and relatives near Ukrainian troops with flags 3. Soldier's wife, Iuliia Loseva, holding sons' hands, kneeling near coffin 4. Various of soldiers holding pictures of killed soldier 5. Various of wife of soldier kneeling on coffin and crying before burial 6. Ukrainian troops firing gun salute 7. Wife and sons of killed soldier crying as coffin is lowered into grave 8. Burial, army band playing STORYLINE: The countryside was in full bloom when Iuliia Loseva buried her husband in a village cemetery near her home in Ukraine. On her knees in the grass, she bowed her head over the open coffin and kissed him one last goodbye before they lowered him into his grave.   There was a military band and a six-gun salute. His teenage sons, pale and stunned, walked behind their father's coffin holding framed photographs of him in his camouflage uniform. But this was not a military funeral for a career soldier. Volodymyr Losev's foray into the army was as sudden as it was brief.   A little over three months ago, the 38-year-old was just another civilian. Driving trucks and operating cranes, he worked to take care of his family in Zorya Truda, a small village near the port city of Odesa in southwestern Ukraine. Then the war came and everything changed.   Like so many other Ukrainian men, Losev decided he wanted to help defend his country. He had no prior military experience, but he knew how to shoot an air rifle and he had specialised driving skills due to his job. So when a letter arrived from the army recruitment centre in February, Losev turned up and asked to be enlisted. Skilled drivers were in demand and the army took him up on his offer. He left his wife and sons - 13-year-old Hrehorii and 15-year-old Denys - at home and headed off to western Ukraine for two or three weeks of training. He was a good marksman, it turned out, and the army made him a sniper, his family said. Soon, he was on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, fighting Russian forces. His family didn't know much about where he was - he didn't discuss locations.   Then the dreaded call came. One of Losev's fellow soldiers, a friend, called Iuliia, telling her her husband was dead. Losev died on May 7 near the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk, his family was told. A mine in the road detonated as the military vehicle he was driving ran over it, wounding the other soldiers in the vehicle and killing Losev. As far as the family knows, he died at the scene. Fighting in the area was fierce and retrieving his body complicated. It took days for the army to manage to extract him and get him home. On Monday, Iuliia waited outside their home as the funeral van arrived with his coffin. She clutched her son's hands as the funeral procession made its way to the small cemetery on the outskirts of the village, national flags fluttering in the breeze.   The grave was open and waiting, the band standing to one side. Leaving the mourners behind, his wife walked ahead with the coffin and asked the pallbearers to set him down on the grass. She sank to her knees, ragged sobs escaping in agonising breaths. One last time, she caressed his chest and bowed over him. For a final few moments, she could be alone with her husband. =========================================================== Clients are reminded: Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...