Ukraine’s funeral workers shoulder war’s weight
Sumy’s funeral director faced the war’s toll
A daily routine around the graves she came to know
After five years in the funeral home, Svitlana Ostapenko paced the room as she prepared another body for its last journey. The war had multiplied the dead, the new arrivals of Russia’s invasion turning even her routine into an overwhelming task.
War–wounded workers shoulder an emotional burden
Ukraine’s funeral workers, living through the conflict themselves, cope with the relentless grief of families while watching a blink’s death. When she stood on the floor of the hospice, the 59‑year‑old said she defended herself with sedatives while the land’s killing marked its archives.
Sumy under bombardment and the nearby front
Sumy, near the Russian border, fell under continuous bombardment. Russian forces advanced to just 20 kilometres from the city, forcing new casualties every morning.
Grieving families she buried amid war crimes
- Mother and daughter, the hearts of a few families in the fire.
- Thirty‑three‑year‑old woman, two children, among the buried.
She took refuge in her hallway when the night struck
She huddled as missiles struck at night, a phone in hand, ready to serve when needed. Her accounts reveal a realistic picture of how the war creates a new page each day in the city’s funeral book.
Numbers and individuals – a battlefield remembrance
Petro Bondar, a Ukrainian regional attestant, records victims’ names. He noted that the war numbers represented living souls, not just statistics, according to what he has seen.
Igor Kruzo’s craft of memorial remembrance
Igor Kruzo, a 60‑year‑old who builds granite tombstones and paints portraits for graves, has faced the brunt of war’s novelty in each grain of stone. He mixes people’s narratives into his paintings, preventing the melancholy from seeping into his everyday life.
“They need to be heard.”
He said the personal stories of the families helped him bear the psychological impact of his job.
His work took on a heavier toll as the war raged on
In a new cemetery wing for soldiers, the graves echo yellow and blue flags. The sound of pine trees and the pace of work surrounded the many newly dug graves ready to host war veterans.
Recent data – The war’s toll in numbers
President Volodymyr Zelensky reported 46,000 Ukrainian soldier deaths, with “tens of thousands” more missing or captured. Russia has yet to publish casualty figures, but independent media estimate more than 119,000 total military losses on the Russian side.
Kruzo’s nightmares:
- Soldiers mourned in the cemetery, faces forever captured on marble.
- His own dreaming about missing soldiers and still‑alive comrades.
Kruzo remains a “tough” man who once served in the Soviet Army. Nevertheless, the war left him coping with a numbness that has driven him to an intense work ethic. A pregnant woman is seen in the cemetery corridor, looking at a bright soldier’s portrait cut into marble.
