At the historic St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Ukraine’s capital, where the city traditionally honors fallen soldiers and distinguished citizens lost in the conflict that began over four years ago, two small white caskets sat together on Tuesday, containing the remains of two young girls.
The sisters, 12-year-old Liubava Yakovlieva and 17-year-old Vira, died when a Russian missile destroyed their residential building in Kyiv on May 14, trapping them beneath the debris. The attack claimed 24 lives total.
Their mother, Tetiana, sat next to the caskets as the family’s only remaining member. Their father, Yevhen, had been killed while serving as a soldier on the front lines three years prior.
Scores of young people attended the service to pay their respects. The sisters’ classmates, wearing black clothing, consoled one another. Containers at the base of the coffins were filled to capacity with flowers, while additional bouquets covered the floor.
Images displayed on the caskets revealed blonde-haired Liubava and Vira, who wore eyeglasses.
Both grown-ups and children shed tears. Several military comrades of Yevhen Yakovliev were present among those gathered.
Prior to the conflict, he had been recognized as a skilled chef, angler, and craftsman. Following Russia’s comprehensive invasion in 2022, he joined the military. He died in battle on April 7, 2023, close to the settlement of Dibrova in the Luhansk area.
The conflict has now claimed his family as well.
Following the Russian missile impact, video footage obtained by Current Time, a Radio Liberty initiative, showed the girls’ mother speaking while rescue workers searched the wreckage.
“I lost their father, my husband, a defender of Ukraine. I don’t know if they are alive or if they have already gone to be with their father,” Tetiana said. “That it is very painful — those words will tell you nothing until you feel it yourself.”
Dmytro Koval, who instructed Vira in painting and drawing at a Kyiv arts institution, was among the mourners. He characterized her as an exceptional pupil who was determined, confident in expressing her opinions, yet also compassionate and considerate toward others.
He said the news of her death created deep shock at the school.
“When death is sown among those you saw and knew just yesterday, it is always very hard, unspeakably hard,” Koval said. “We must not live on illusions, on empty dreams, on hopes for some negotiations, because our neighbors are not oriented toward peace.”
The younger sister Liubava appeared delicate and small but possessed inner strength, according to Tetiana Osipova, a family friend who had served with the girls’ father. She had escorted his remains home and developed friendships with Tetiana and her daughters.
“The children had a very hard time coping with the loss of their father,” Osipova said.
During the day when rescue teams searched the debris for Liubava and Vira, she remained with their mother.
Osipova explained that Tetiana now confronts a different type of sorrow — having lost both her role as a spouse and as a parent. She noted her friend was committed to finding resilience by preserving the legacy of her family members and continuing their work.
“This is an unnatural order of things, when parents bury their children,” Efrem Khomiak, the priest presiding over the service, told the audience. “This funeral, this grief, this tragedy, it is not only your family’s. It belongs to all of Ukraine. Because we are all bound together in this war.”
