Washington Post: One young Ukrainian soldier’s death felt by family, friends and country

By Isabelle Khurshudyan and Serhiy Morgunov The last time Svitlana Povalyaeva saw her son alive was at a funeral. Roman Ratushnyi returned to Kyiv for a few days in May to say goodbye to his friend from the front line, a soldier with the call sign Achilles who had been killed when a Russian tank opened fire. They had served together near Russian-occupied Izyum, and while Ratushnyi had become accustomed to death and loss by this point in Russia’s war against Ukraine, his mother could sense this time was different. “I know my child,” she said. “I know what sort of a cry from the heart it was. It was clearly a shock for him.” More than six months after Russia invaded, Ukraine’s defense against a larger and better-equipped military has earned admiration at home and abroad. But it has come at a cost. Ukrainians are grieving. Civilians die every day in Russian shelling and missile attacks, but most casualties are young military men who represented Ukraine’s future. Read more: htt