A Ukrainian four-year-old killed by a Russian missile strike has been buried in central Ukraine, with a weeping Orthodox priest telling her distraught relatives "evil cannot win".
Liza Dmytrieva, who had Down syndrome, was on the way to a speech therapist with her mother when Russian missiles struck the city of Vinnytsia on Thursday, far from the front lines.
At least 24 people were killed, including Liza and two boys aged seven and eight. More than 200 were wounded, including Liza's mother.
"Look, my flower, look how many people came to you," Liza's grandmother Larysa Dmytryshyna, said, caressing Liza's body which lay in an open coffin with flowers and teddy bears in Vinnytsia's 18th-century Transfiguration Cathedral.
Liza's father, Artem Dmytriev, stood silent, tears flowing down his face.
Liza's mother, 33-year-old Iryna Dmytrieva, remained in an intensive care unit in grave condition.
The family did not tell her that Liza was being buried, fearing it could affect her.
"Your mummy didn't even see how beautiful you are today," Ms Dmytryshyna said, weeping.
Helena Sydorenko, a longtime family friend, said Liza's mother "invested a lot of effort in socialising Liza".
When the war started, Irina Dmytrieva and her family fled Ukrainian capital Kyiv for Vinnytsia, a city 270 kilometres to the south-west, which until Thursday was considered relatively safe.
Shortly before the explosion, Ms Dmytrieva had posted a video on social media showing her daughter straining to reach the handlebars to push her own stroller.
The video shows the pair happily walking through Vinnytsia, with Liza wearing a denim jacket and white pants and her hair decorated with a barrette.
After the Russian missile strike, Ukraine's emergency services shared photos showing her lifeless body on the ground next to her blood-stained stroller.
The videos and photos have gone viral, the latest images from the brutal war in Ukraine to horrify the world.
Russian forces have since claimed the attack was directed at a building where Ukrainian air force officials were meeting suppliers.
Ukraine has rejected the claims, saying the attack instead struck a cultural centre used by retired veterans. They added the strike was part of a systematic Russian campaign of attacks on residential areas.
Liza's closest relatives sat on both sides of the coffin, and many more crowded Vinnytsia's Orthodox cathedral to pay their last tributes to the girl.
"I didn't know Liza, but no person can go through this with calm," Orthodox priest Vitalii Holoskevych said, bursting into tears.
He paused and continued in a trembling voice: ''We know that evil cannot win.''
Later, at a windswept cemetery, relatives and friends bid farewell to Liza under grey skies.
"You loved this song very much, you danced every day. This song sounds for you now," Ms Dmytryshyna said.
The song was Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow, which has become a symbol of resistance in Ukraine after Russia's invasion.
"It's suffering and despair. There is no forgiveness for them," said Ilona, another family friend.
A 7-year-old boy killed in the same Russian air strike was also buried on Sunday, along with his mother in a village near Vinnytsia.
They were at a medical centre when the missiles hit the building. Another young boy slain in the same air strike is to be buried in Vinnytsia on Monday.
ABC/AP
