A crowd of mourners lit torches and sang a military chant in honor of a Ukrainian medic and soldier who fell in love on the front lines and died together in a Russian grenade attack.
Valentyna Nahorna, whose call sign was Valkyrie, volunteered as a medic at the beginning of the war. Ukraine.
She and Daniil Liashkevych, known as Berserk, fell in love only a few months ago, their friends and comrades say, but it helped them survive the war. They both worked in the 3rd Assault Brigadeand were murdered on November 4.
Their funerals took place on Friday Kiev ‘s crematorium, a cavernous and stark modern building often used for funerals of war victims.
Those in attendance sang the chant that Ukrainian soldiers memorize when they first start training: “Burnt with fire, life-giving, the weakness in my heart. Let me know no fear or doubt.”
Kostyl, who like many Ukrainian soldiers agreed to be identified only by his call sign, said meeting Valkyrie helped bring Berserk out of a dark time in his life.
“He finally had a soulmate who also wanted to fight with him and be as close to the war as possible. But this was their last time together, and no one is safe from that,” Kostyl said.
Dvyetshnik, a soldier from the 3rd Brigade who knew the medic better than her soldier companion, described her as fearless and ready to learn anything.
“If Valkyrie was very sincere in her emotions, adding beautiful chaos, then Berserk was a true warrior,” he said. “They were a perfect complement to each other.”
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