The funeral of a pro-Russian rebel leader killed in an explosion last week drew vast crowds of mourners in eastern Ukraine’s breakaway Donetsk Region on Sept. 2.
![People wait in line to pay their last respects to the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko in Donetsk, Ukraine, Sept. 2, 2018. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2F02%2F2018-09-02T145410Z_1_LYNXNPEE810HW_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ZAKHARCHENKO-600x397.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Alexander Zakharchenko was fatally injured in an explosion in a cafe in Donetsk on Aug. 31. Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of his murder, while Kyiv blamed his death on separatist infighting.
The official media outlet of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said 200,000 people had gathered for Zakharchenko’s funeral, the republic’s leader since 2014. Reuters was unable to verify that figure.
![Soldiers line up to pay their last respects to the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko in Donetsk, Ukraine, Sept. 2, 2018. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2F02%2F2018-09-02T145410Z_1_LYNXNPEE810HV_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ZAKHARCHENKO-600x424.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Footage showed long lines of mourners, many carrying red carnations, lining up to pay their respects outside the city’s main opera theater, where Zakharchenko’s coffin stood.
“I am here because I really respected him. He did everything for the people. ... A good person is gone,” Anna, a member of the crowd, said through tears.
“He was everything to us. He left fighting for his country. There are no words,” said Natalya, a mourner.
![Relatives of the late Alexander Zakharchenko mourn in Donetsk, Ukraine, Sept. 2, 2018. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2F02%2F2018-09-02T145410Z_1_LYNXNPEE810HU_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ZAKHARCHENKO-600x403.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
His coffin, draped in the separatist region’s flag and the flag of the Russian Airborne Troops, a division of Russia’s armed forces, was carried out of the theater to silent applause.
It was placed on the gun-carriage of a large artillery weapon, which was then towed past the crowds by a truck.
![Natalia Zakharchenko the widow of the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko mourns during his funeral in Donetsk, Ukraine, Sept. 2, 2018. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2F02%2F2018-09-02T145410Z_1_LYNXNPEE810HX_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ZAKHARCHENKO-600x388.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
“I didn’t know him personally but he was a leader to all of us,” Katya, a young woman attending the funeral, said.
At least five other leading separatist commanders have been killed in unexplained circumstances not connected to front-line combat since the conflict started in 2014, when Russian-backed rebels threw off Ukrainian central rule in an armed uprising.
A shaky internationally brokered cease-fire has been in force since 2015, halting large-scale fighting, but frequent outbreaks of shooting on the front line between the separatists and Ukrainian forces continue.