Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and government members paid tribute to those who participated in military operations in other states during a flower-laying ceremony in Kyiv on Feb.15.
An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that government officials had laid flowers at the monument to soldiers who participated in the war in Afghanistan on Mazepa Street (formerly known as Sichnevoho Povstannia Street) and participated in a religious service at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ.
The event was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Sergiy Tigipko, Defense Minister Mykhailo Yezhel, Culture Minister Mykhailo Kulyniak, former Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko, and Parliament Human Rights Commissioner Nina Karpachova.
The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan ended on February 15, 1989.
The war in Afghanistan lasted nearly a decade. Over 160,000 Ukrainians participated in military operations in the republic from 1979 to 1989. Some 3,290 of them died in the war, while nearly 60 are considered missing or captured. Over 8,000 Ukrainians were injured, and about 4,690 of them returned home with disabilities.
