[1/4] Workers prepare to lift the statue of Ukrainian serviceman Oleksandr Matsievskyi, who was executed by Russian troops in 2022, at his memorial site, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Nizhyn, Ukraine, November 24, 2023.
REUTERS/Thomas Peter Acquire Licensing RightsNIZHYN, Ukraine, Nov 25 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian soldier who was posthumously awarded a medal after a widely shared video showed him declaring "Glory to Ukraine" before apparently being shot dead, was commemorated with a statue in his northern hometown on Saturday.
Kyiv blamed "brutal and brazen" Russians for his death, as did his mother Paraska Demchuk, 68.
"He would say to me, 'Mum, I will never let them capture me'," she said through tears.
Additional reporting by Max Hunder and Nick Starkov; writing by Elaine Monaghan; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Oleksandr Matsievskyi, Thomas Peter Acquire, Oleksandr Matsievskiy, Slava Ukraini, Paraska Demchuk, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Matsievskiy, Slava, Max Hunder, Nick Starkov, Elaine Monaghan, Hugh Lawson
Organizations:
Workers, REUTERS, Ukraine, Thomson
Locations:
Ukraine, Nizhyn, Ukrainian, Chernihiv