The funeral of Irish man Alex Ryzhuk, who was killed in Ukraine last year, will take place tomorrow in the western Ukrainian village of Kryliv.
A memorial mass will be held on 23 November at Donnycarney Church in Dublin.
The 20-year-old, who was born in Dublin to Ukrainian parents and lived in the Rathmines area, was serving with a drone unit of the Ukrainian military in the east of the country when he went missing in August 2024 and was presumed dead.
Last week, DNA tests commissioned by his family confirmed remains returned from the frontlines were his.
He had left Ireland for Ukraine soon after his 18th birthday.
Last year, Mr Ryzhuk told Irish filmmaker Finn Boylan of FinnHouse Films in a report for Prime Time that he was motivated to go to the frontlines after hearing news reports about rape and torture by Russian troops in the Ukrainian city of Bucha in April 2022, as well as the deaths of relatives and friends fighting in the war.
"At that moment, I knew that, like, I can't... can't stay in Ireland anymore," he told Mr Boylan.
"He was extremely strong-minded," a Dublin-based family friend, who preferred not to be named, told RTÉ News, "I don't think anyone could have changed that, his decision of going to Ukraine".
"In an interview, with Ukrainian journalists, he said, 'I hope my family will forgive me one day,'" she said.
She said his family were finding it hard to accept that he is gone.
A few days before he went missing, he posted a photograph to Instagram of himself dressed in combat fatigues, smiling with his arms crossed.
"Little photo of me in case y’all miss me," read the caption.
Mr Ryzhuk had returned to Ireland for a short visit at Easter 2024.
"That week was far too short - Alex’s time was divided between family, friends and a bit of well, deserved rest," the family friend told RTÉ News.
The visit was filled with "warmth and hugs," she said.
"My family was overjoyed to have Alex with us - sharing laughter, a barbeque and a pint of Guinness at my farm," she said.
"It was such a beautiful time and yet the one thing we can never forgive ourselves for is not taking a photo with him to keep that moment alive forever," she added.
Mr Ryzhuk had attended Synge Street CBS school in Dublin 8.
"It’s a pretty good school. I have lots of good memories from there. I'll have to come back to visit once I come back," he told Mr Boylan.
Last August, the headteacher at the school, Clare Catterson, said teachers reached out to her in shock when the news of his disappearance broke.
She told RTÉ's Morning Ireland: "There was great shock and sadness because they remember the young man who was just three short years ago walking these corridors in his school uniform with a smile on his face and wanting to help in any way he could."
Ms Catterson described him as an "all-rounder" who got himself involved in all aspects of school life.
"He was on the judo team, the basketball team. He loved volleyball. He particularly loved Halloween," she told Morning Ireland.
He added that Mr Ryzhuk was very proud of his Ukrainian heritage.
"You would have heard him on the corridors speaking to other Ukrainian students in his own language ... definitely he would often speak about having been home during the summers to visit relatives."
Speaking to Mr Boylan in the interview last year, Mr Ryzhuk said, "war is brutal".
"If someone dies, the biggest responsibility we have at that point is to get their bodies back so they can have a proper funeral," he added.
