Tbilisi: Georgian volunteer Berdia Jokhadze has lost his life in the ongoing war in Ukraine as his family confirmed his death on Thursday. Jokhadze died in the Kherson, the southern region of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Jokhadze’s sister has thanked the governments of Ukraine and Georgia along with the fellow volunteers, friends and relatives for their support and cooperation to ensure that body of the deceased gets timely repatriation back to his home in Georgia.
The deceased will receive a military funeral as soon as his body is repatriated on Friday.
Why are Georgians volunteering in the Ukraine war?Â
The Georgian government have been reluctant to let its citizens volunteer in the Ukraine war. However, a large number of Georgians have been volunteering for the war. The volunteers include poets, bloggers and two former ministers of defence.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the independent republics so formed looked for stable and reliable allies in the post-bipolar world.
  Consequently, leading to the emergence of a strategic partnership between Georgia and Ukraine.
 The countries had envisioned the future through a common vision of European and trans- Atlantic cooperation while President Viktor Yushchenko’s mandate in Ukraine in 2005-2010 and Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia (2004-2013).
Meanwhile, Russia had never favoured to cut ties with the Soviet republics, especially with Georgia and Ukraine. As a result, several conflicts have been sustained in Georgia in the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali; thus deteriorating the Russo-Georgian relationships.
So far, at least nine Georgians have lost their lives in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.
