Amid sea of Ukrainian flags, Mariupol defender finally laid to rest

Natalia Honcharenko holds her hands on a coffin with remains of the body of her son Yevhenii, Ukrainian serviceman who was killed in fight against Russian troops defending the city of Mariupol in April 2022, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at a cemetery in Kharkiv, Ukraine January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi

KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) - For months, Natalia Honcharenko had clung to the hope that her son, a Ukrainian soldier who helped defend the Mariupol steelworks against relentless Russian attack, might still be alive.

Ievhenii Honcharenko, 27, was declared a prisoner of war at the end of May, two weeks after the last 250 of the fighters holed up in the plant surrendered to Russian forces, bringing to an end the nearly one-year-old war's most devastating siege.