A Canadian who died in Ukraine in April is coming home to Niagara Region.
Cole Zelenco reportedly died on April 26, after Russian artillery shelled the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
He was on his second tour volunteering as a fighter with Ukrainian forces serving with Ukraine’s International Legion, which was attached to the 92nd Mechanized Brigade.
But unlike a Canadian Forces soldier who dies in battle, Zelenco will not have a repatriation ceremony along the Highway of Heroes.
However, the Hamilton-based North Wall Riders Association is changing that.
The motorcycle group will be escorting the hearse carrying Zelenco’s casket from Pearson International Airport to a funeral home in St. Catharines.
Association President Keven Ellis says despite the fact Zelenco didn’t die for his country, he should still be getting that same respect.
“We want to pay the same respect to Cole and Cole’s family that he would have received if he was a Canadian soldier coming home, being repatriated from another country. (If he was) serving our country, he would have gotten the Highway of Heroes (honour), so we’re giving him the same thing.”
The motorcade will begin at 11 a.m. Friday and follow the highways to St. Catharines.
Ellis says he hopes that others will come and join them in honouring Zelenco.
“We’re hoping we can get fellow Canadians who respect what this young man did – trying to defend the freedom of the people of Ukraine – to line the bridges (on the Niagara Bound QEW) along the way … with the flag just like what we would have done with any other soldier.”
The Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine says that Zelenco died with another Canadian volunteer, Kyle Porter.