A member of the military honor guard stands as President Joe Biden arrives to participate in the Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony for the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, in 2021. November 11 Photo by Oliver Contreras/UPI. | License photo
April 23 (UPI) — The Ukrainian government has announced that it will build a national military cemetery and museum complex near the capital, Bykivne.
Vitaly Klitschko announced Thursday in a post on Facebook that the city council “started the procedure” to establish the National Soldiers’ Memorial Cemetery.
“The capital is ready to contribute in every possible way to the creation of a monument to our heroes,” K. Kličko said.
Klitschko said the city owns about 20 acres of land in the area that will be used for the cemetery, in addition to the 222 acres owned by the federal government.
“The Ministry of Veterans is responsible for the creation of the memorial cemetery of Ukrainian national soldiers. In accordance with the Government’s action plan, we have created a state institution that will take care of all these processes,” said Oleksandr Porhun, First Deputy Minister of Veteran Affairs. said in a statement on April 14.
“The plot for building a cemetery has already been approved. According to the agreed construction schedule, burials will begin in the first row of the National Soldiers Memorial Cemetery at the end of autumn this year.”
Yulia Laputina, Ukraine’s minister of veterans affairs, told CNN that the country plans to model the cemetery after the US’s Arlington National Cemetery.
“I really appreciate this incredible remembrance and respect for the people who defended your country,” said Laputina, who is also a veteran.
“It will be a memorial not only for those people who will be buried there after the battles of the Russian-Ukrainian war, for the heroes, but also for all the defenders of our country when Ukraine fought for independence in various historical periods.”
