For the military, remembrance of the fallen is an inseparable element of military honor, tradition, and the internal order on which an army stands. Every fallen Defender of Ukraine has the right to a dignified burial with military honors, and it is the state’s duty to those who gave their lives for it.
We disagree with the court ruling that declared the transfer of land for the National Military Memorial Cemetery unlawful. A decision issued “in the name of Ukraine” cynically violates the rights of those who died for that very name, those who spoke it in the final moments of their lives.
Court decisions in land-use matters cannot and must not override acts of commemoration that have already taken place. The mechanical observance of formal norms, detached from their substance and purpose, is unacceptable. Fallen Defenders must not become hostages to human indifference, professional incompetence, or legal manipulation. In delivering its decision, did the court consider the fate of the warriors who had already been laid to rest?
The Khorunzha Service of the First Corps Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine emphasizes that during wartime, the state has no right to dismantle rituals of remembrance. The burial place of warriors is part of combat brotherhood, a symbol of military continuity and of the responsibility of the living to the dead. In Ukraine, it must remain where it is now, where the state itself has determined it should be.