Ukraine: Donetsk mourners honour flight 7K9268 victims

Scores of people attended a memorial service held at the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Donetsk, on Sunday morning, in memory of the 224 victims of the Kogalymavia (Metrojet) airlines flight 7K9268 that went down in Egypt's Sinai on Saturday. The attendees were holding white balloons with the names of the people that lost their lives that were released into the sky at the end of the ceremony. They also placed red carnations at the memorial site. The Chairman of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin expressed his condolences "to the families and the authorities of the Russian Federation" saying that "this is the biggest catastrophe in the recent time and a big loss for the relatives." Kogalymavia flight 7K9268 crashed in Sinai around 23 minutes after take-off. There were a total of 224 people on board - 217 passengers, including 25 children, and seven crew members, with reports indicating that all but five passengers - four Ukrainians and one Belarussian - were Russian. The relatives of the victims are currently being treated by psychologists in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Petersburg.