Funeral for pianist killed in the Palm Sunday attack on Sumy

(15 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sumy, Ukraine - 15 April 2025
1. Various of family members and co-workers mourning at the coffin of pianist Olena Kohut who was killed in the Palm Sunday attack among 35 civilian people in Sumy
2. Mid of portrait of Olena Kohut
3. Mid of people mourning at the funeral ceremony
4. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Vadym Kohut, Olena Kohut's husband:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“She was an open person, a real woman with a great soul. She was, I'm not afraid to say it, a saint, she was superior, but she never put herself up or glorified herself. She was very humble. She always came to the rescue, did not take offense at the insults that came in her direction from the hovering, from evil people. She was able to turn all this into good positive energy, into energy that created. Loss. There are no words to express the feelings that exist, they cannot be expressed in words.”
4. Wide of crowd mourning at the funeral ceremony
5. Mid of family members and co-workers mourning at the coffin of pianist Olena Kohut
6. Various of people holding flowers in memory and respect to pianist Olena Kohut
7. Mid of workers carrying the coffin of Olena Kohut to the professional arts college
8. Various of mother mourning at the coffin of pianist Olena Kohut
9. Mid of people mourning
10. Various of people laying flowers a few meters from the place where Olena’s Kohut body was found on the site of Russian missile attack
STORYLINE:
In Sumy, the farewell ceremony for pianist Olena Kohut who was killed in the Palm Sunday attack was held in the local theatre where she worked and often played.

Dozens came to say their final farewells to the gifted musician and piano teacher, who was killed in a Russian ballistic missile attack while on her way to rehearsals.

“Loss," Olena's husband Vadym Kohut said to The Associated Press, "there are no words to express the feelings that exist, they cannot be expressed in words.”

Kohut was a solo organist at the regional philharmonic, a member of the orchestra at the local theatre and a lecturer at a professional arts college. The crowd clapped until her coffin was driven away.

“For the entire Sumy musical community, not only Sumy, but the Ukrainian community in general, this is a very big loss, because there are very few performers who are really so talented," said Serhiy Dorofieiev, the director of the theater where Olena worked.

"Mrs. Olena could really be classified as a virtuoso, a true master of her craft," he added.

Russia on Monday claimed its deadly missile attack on Ukraine's Sumy that killed and wounded scores including children had targeted a gathering of Ukrainian troops, while European leaders condemned the attack as a war crime.

Ukrainian officials have said two ballistic missiles on Palm Sunday morning hit the heart of Sumy, a city about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Ukraine's border with Russia, killing at least 34 people, including two children, and wounding 119. It was the second large-scale attack to claim civilian lives in Ukraine in just over a week.

Asked about the attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia's military only strikes military targets. Russia's Defense Ministry said the strike targeted a gathering of senior military officers and accused Kyiv of using civilians as shields by holding military meetings in the city's center.

The ministry claimed to kill over 60 troops. Russia gave no evidence to back its claims.

Russian forces this month have dropped 2,800 air bombs on Ukraine and fired more than 1,400 strike drones and nearly 60 missiles of various types.

[fredericgonzalez]

Did she play in Vancouver in December 2022? I think I saw her at Saint Faith's Anglican Church during a concert for Ukraine. Greeting from Canada.

[TEARIKITAVAI]

SHE WAS PLAYING AT THE MILITARY CEREBRATION FOR THOSE UKRAINE SOLDIERS WHO MADE IT OUT OF KURSK AND MEDALS CELEMONY 😅😅😅