How We Honor the Dead Shows How We Protect the Living

Source: Author’s Facebook page

Every time we welcome citizens returning from captivity, we see the smiles of their relatives and friends. We hear joyful accounts and heartfelt statements from government representatives.

Unfortunately, the picture becomes much bleaker when the bodies of our fallen soldiers and ordinary citizens are returned by the hundreds, sometimes even thousands. Many were killed or left to die in inhuman conditions in Russian torture chambers. Most reports on this come not from Ukrainian, but from foreign media, which makes it all the more harrowing.

The New York Times captures this grim reality: “On a dusty railway platform in the Odessa region, Ukrainian workers unload white body bags from refrigerated cars. A sharp, cadaverous stench hangs in the air.”

And here’s how it looks in the report of “Slidstvo Info”: “After repatriation, approximately 1,000 bodies of Ukrainian defenders were brought to the Poltava region in refrigerated cars. Investigators, forensic experts, and explosives technicians are working directly alongside the railway tracks. Due to limited refrigeration capacity, the process is being organized as a “field morgue.” The permanent morgue cannot accommodate such numbers, so specialists are conducting their work in improvised conditions near the tracks.

PR efforts do not work at events where the bodies of dead and tortured Ukrainian citizens are returned. That is why state leadership is often absent from such occasions. I do not wish to use the harsh epithets that Hennady Sikalov, editor-in-chief of The Last Bastion, employs in these situations; perhaps he expresses it too bluntly.

However, it is at such events that the personal responsibility of those in power for each deceased citizen is felt most acutely. After all, it implies that they may have failed to act or acted incorrectly in ways that could have prevented these deaths.

Undoubtedly, this is an enormous moral burden. But anyone who assumes public office must understand that their role is not limited to attending pleasant events with flowers, smiling faces, and positive reports about their achievements. It also requires a willingness to take responsibility for lives lost and to stand close to the families of the deceased in their darkest moments — even if it means facing their raw emotional reactions, especially in the presence of the media.

I would also like to note that the vocabulary used by some high-ranking officials, including ministers, who speak of “approximately 6,000 bodies,” is completely unacceptable. Such language is a knife to the hearts of the families of those 6,000. Do mothers, fathers, and spouses count their children or loved ones approximately? When it comes to fallen heroes, adverbs are inappropriate.

The issue is urgent and growing. Increasingly, voices are calling for a clear, standardized ritual for honoring the fallen, mandatory for all government institutions. There is an obvious starting point: an honor guard (where possible), a flag, a brief official formula, flags at half-mast on designated days, and a consistent visual identity for the state. Ethical language standards for top officials should prohibit dehumanizing terms, focusing instead on names, units, and personalized expressions of gratitude. Respect for the families of the fallen must become a social axiom.

I would also add that state support for the families of the deceased must be coordinated. A “single window” principle should be introduced, so that a family communicates not with a dozen different institutions, but with a single point of contact responsible for logistics, identification, ceremonial matters, payments, and psychological support.

And from this person, we should never hear: “I didn’t send him/her there.”

It is also worth establishing regular symbolic forms of remembrance. Beyond official dates, recurring national initiatives or “moments of silence” can unite the country.

At the state level, clearer and more transparent guidance is needed (while considering security and privacy) regarding what actions the families of the deceased should take, ensuring that these procedures do not become an additional burden.

This model exists in countries like the US and France, where even the coffin of a single deceased citizen is met with an honor guard and attended by top leadership.

Of course, when dealing with thousands of dead and the stench from refrigerated trucks, being present can be physically and emotionally overwhelming. Yet respect for the fallen — receiving acknowledgment from the head of state rather than a pathologist or a foreign journalist — should be the clearest demonstration of the difference between Ukraine and Russia.

Unfortunately, such a system does not yet exist in Ukraine. But it must. Respect for the country’s fallen defenders is a direct reflection of how we treat the living.

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