Il Nuovo Postiglione - Kyiv buries medic killed in Russian drone strike

The 56-year-old medic was cut down in the early hours of last Friday, as he rushed to rescue residents from a housing bloc Russia struck minutes earlier in a massive drone-and-missile attack on the Ukrainian capital.

"There is hardly a more noble profession than that of a medic, someone who, in one way or another, saves people's lives," the priest told hundreds of mourners, weeping, wearing black or clutching flowers at his funeral

Smolyak, who worked as a medic for more than 25 years, fled his home in the southern Kherson region when Russia invaded nearly four years ago.

"He was very kind, always calm and even-tempered. He saved so many people," Ryta Dorosh, a nurse who worked with Smolyak before the war, said at his funeral on Monday.

"It's a very great loss," she told AFP.

Four other medics were wounded in the barrage of 242 drones and 36 missiles, which left half the capital without heating in freezing temperatures and spurred calls from the mayor for residents to leave temporarily.

Moscow said the attack was retribution for an alleged drone strike on a residence of Vladimir Putin, something Kyiv has denied and that the United States has suggested did not happen.

Apart from Smolyak, Kyiv says more than 500 Ukrainian medical workers have been killed since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of launching so-called "double-tap" strikes -- a repeat attack on the same site shortly after a hit, specifically targeting first responders. It is a tactic experts say could constitute a war crime.

With incense hanging in the air, and sunlight illuminating gold-painted biblical murals on the cathedral walls, the priest urged mourners to help others, too.

"Above all, we must take it upon ourselves to join in the cause for which Sergiy suffered and gave his life," the priest added, tears filling his eyes.

H.Zampino--INP