The bodies of two Georgian servicemen, Giorgi Beriashvili and Davit Ratiani, who died in the war in Ukraine, were delivered to Georgia, the Ekho Kavkaza newspaper reported.
Family members of the volunteers, their friends and ordinary citizens honored the memory of the dead at Tbilisi international airport.
As the Georgian service of Radio Liberty notes, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has expressed condolences to the families of the victims.
Giorgi Beriashvili and Davit Ratiani went to Ukraine as volunteers after the Russian invasion began. They were killed on March 18 in the fighting near the town of Irpen near Kiev. They will be buried with military honors.
"Dato (David Ratiani) lived like a hero and died like a hero. He was helping a French soldier, who had a leg injury, get to the assembly point. He died on the spot as a result of a mine explosion," journalist Alexei Bobrovnikov, Ratiani's friend, wrote on Facebook.
On March 19, citizens in front of the Parliament building in Tbilisi honored the memory of Beriashvili and Ratiani. The memory of the two fighters was also honored in Batumi and Zugdidi.
Opposition politician Elene Khoshtaria, who organized the action, said: "They took the burden of freedom and sacrificed themselves."
In addition, on March 19, reports were circulating that another Georgian, 54-year-old Bakhva Chikobava, had been killed in the besieged Mariupol, reports civil.ge.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili expressed his condolences to the families of the Georgian volunteers killed in Ukraine.
"They fought, as far as I know, during the war in Abkhazia, some of them also in the August war (2008), and of course the state has done everything possible to have their bodies delivered, returned to Georgia," he said.
"Russian aggression took the lives of three Georgian fighters in Ukraine... I share the grief of the families and relatives of David Ratiani, Gia Beriashvili and Bakhva Chikobava," Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili wrote on Facebook on March 19.
"Our support for the Ukrainian people is unwavering. Our friendship has a centuries-old history and I believe it will grow stronger," he added.
"Ukraine and Georgia share a common pain, it has always been so, it is still so today. I share the grief of the family members and friends of Gia Beriashvili, David Ratiani, Bakhva Chikobava!", capital mayor Kakha Kaladze also wrote on March 19.
The Ukrainian Embassy in Tbilisi also reacted to the deaths of the volunteers: "Heroes do not die. Ukraine will always remember its heroic defenders."
