Hundreds of mourners dressed in white followed 20-year-old Vitalina Yarovenko’s open casket from St. Michael’s Cathedral to Independence Square after she was killed by a second strike while helping the wounded in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district. Yarovenko, a psychology student and Hospitallers volunteer, was remembered for her energy, commitment and plans to enlist after graduation. The attack was part of a larger assault involving 35 missiles and 185 drones, underscoring shortages in Ukraine’s ballistic missile defenses. She was buried in a military cemetery, a rare honor for a civilian.
Kyiv Mourns Volunteer Medic Vitalina Yarovenko Killed by Second Strike While Helping the Wounded
Relatives and friends mourn near the coffin of Vitalina Yarovenko, 20, during the funeral ceremony in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)(AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
Hundreds of mourners, most dressed in white, processed through central Kyiv on Tuesday behind the open casket of 20-year-old Vitalina Yarovenko, a university student and volunteer medic killed when a second Russian strike hit a site where she was tending to victims of an earlier attack.
The farewell began inside St. Michael's golden-domed Cathedral, where clergy offered prayers over the casket and family and friends came forward to say goodbye. At the family’s request, attendees wore white or traditional embroidered Ukrainian shirts instead of black "so that Vitalina would not feel too sad." Although a civilian, her mother asked that the funeral receive the kind of procession often reserved for fallen soldiers; several hundred people followed the casket downhill toward Independence Square.
Vitalina Yarovenko, is seen in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)(AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
Traffic was halted briefly to allow the procession to pass. Drivers stepped out of their vehicles and stood silently; some knelt on one knee while others placed a hand over their heart. At Independence Square the crowd observed a minute of silence for those killed defending Ukraine.
Yarovenko was a fourth-year psychology student at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and served as an instructor at a military training school affiliated with the university. In July she began volunteering with the Hospitallers, a Ukrainian medical organization that delivers frontline aid and evacuates the wounded.
Vitalina Yarovenko and her friends attend a party in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)(AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
Relatives and friends said Yarovenko rushed to the scene of a missile strike in Kyiv's Darnytskyi district early Saturday. While she and other volunteers were treating the injured, a second strike hit the same location. Ukrainian officials have previously accused Russian forces of using a "double tap" tactic—striking once to draw rescuers and again to target them.
"I have given up the meaning of my entire life, but I am immensely proud," Yarovenko's mother, Nataliia, said, holding a portrait of her daughter. "I don't want a hero at home. I want my child at home. But this was her path."
Also killed at the site was 25-year-old Eva Royce, who had been working alongside Yarovenko. Royce's remains were severely burned and identification of recovered body parts was still underway, so her burial had not yet taken place.
People kneel during the funeral ceremony for Vitalina Yarovenko, 20, in the Independence square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Friends remembered Yarovenko as energetic and committed: she raised funds for Ukraine's military, volunteered at a military hospital and helped organize training for youth. "There are not many people like her," a close friend said, adding that Yarovenko's humor and spirit lifted those around her.
Ukrainian authorities said the attack was part of a large aerial assault that night in which Russia launched 220 aerial weapons across the country—35 missiles and 185 drones. Of those, 27 were ballistic Iskander-M missiles or missiles fired from S-400 systems. Ukraine's air defenses intercepted only one of those ballistic missiles and one guided air-launched missile, officials said.
Relatives mourn near the coffin of Vitalina Yarovenko, 20, during the funeral ceremony in the Independence square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
At least nine people were killed and 33 wounded in Kyiv during the attack, according to Ukrainian authorities. The assault highlighted Ukraine's continuing shortage of Western interceptor missiles; while the country relies heavily on U.S.-made Patriot systems, interceptor supplies remain limited.
At the close of the ceremony, mourners approached Yarovenko's casket one by one to lay white flowers beside her. She was later buried in a military cemetery in Kyiv—a rare honor for a civilian.
Her mother urged Ukrainians to continue defending the country for future generations: "We must withstand this war so that this land remains for our Ukrainian children," she said. "I would have very much liked to give her a beautiful wedding, but today that is no longer possible."
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