A funeral has been held for a 96-year-old H olocaust survivor who was killed by invading Russian forces in Ukraine.
Boris Romanchenko, who had survived four of Adolf Hitler’s worst concentration camps, died when his Kharkiv apartment block was hit by missiles last week.
In a city savaged by Vladimir Putin ’s war machine, Mr Romanchenko's funeral was held on Thursday, with family members including his son and daughter paying their final respects.
In emotional pictures taken at the service, heartbroken relatives were seen crying while leaning on Mr Romanchenko’s casket and cross.
Mr Romanchenko had campaigned tirelessly for a better world in his city Kharkiv after surviving inside the notorious death camps of Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, Peenemünde, and Mittelbau-Dora during the Second World War.
He was widely respected and his heroic concentration camp survival story was known across Europe and America.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said of Mr Romanchenko’s death on Monday: "Please think about how many things he has come through.
"But he was killed by a Russian strike which hit an ordinary Kharkiv multi-storey building. With each day of this war, it becomes more obvious what denazification means to them."
The memorial for the Buchenwald said in a statement: "The horrific death of Boris Romanchenko shows how threatening the war in Ukraine is for the concentration camp survivors.
"We mourn the loss of a close friend."
According to the memorial, Mr Romanchenko had served for many years as the vice president of the Buchenwald-Dora International Committee, devoting himself to documenting the Nazi crimes.
The news comes as six civilians were killed and 15 wounded by a barbaric Russian missile attack on a humanitarian aid queue on Thursday.
A suspected truck-mounted Grad multiple-rocket launcher hit the innocent victims, adding to the growing list of alleged war crimes by Moscow’s troops.
The deadly blasts left dead bodies on a street in Kharkiv, Ukraine ’s second city, which is just 20 miles from the Russian border, officials said.
Elsewhere in Ukraine’s battle for survival in an increasingly brutal war a Russian warship was destroyed by a missile attack and two others badly damaged.
The landing ship - which can carry ten tanks and 350 commandos was the Orsk and was attacked by Ukrainian forces in the occupied port of Berdyansk.
Berdyansk is west of the besieged port of Mariupol and was seized four days after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russia says it has used the port as a base to ferry in equipment for its troops and its army hailed the arrival of the Orsk as an “epic event.”
