A nation pauses: Ukraine’s daily moment of remembrance endures through intensified Russian attacks

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Each morning at 9 o'clock, Kyiv stops for a minute.

Traffic lights turn red, and the steady beat of a metronome on loudspeakers signals 60 seconds of reflection. Cars idle in the middle of the street as drivers step out and stand with heads bowed.

Across Ukraine — in cafes, gyms, schools, on television and even on the front lines — people pause to remember those killed in Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Near a growing outdoor memorial at Kyiv’s Maidan Square, four friends gathered with cardboard signs that read, “Stop. Honor.” Around them, flags, photos and candles for fallen service members formed a dense mosaic of grief and pride.

The four are connected by Iryna Tsybukh, a 25-year-old combat medic killed by a landmine in eastern Ukraine last year. Her death sparked a national outpouring of grief and added momentum to the daily remembrance initiative.

“Memory is not about death,” said Kateryna Datsenko, a friend of the fallen medic and co-founder of Vshanuy, a civic group that promotes the daily observance. “It’s about life — what people loved, valued and thought about. Someone might have loved gardening, someone else a favorite poem. This is the kind of memory we try to preserve.”

The 9 a.m. ritual began in 2022, weeks after the invasion started, as a presidential decree from Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It has since evolved into a shared national practice.

Public demonstrations of solidarity continue even as Russian missile and drone attacks have intensified in recent weeks, striking power facilities and cities across the country. Despite the escalation, Ukrainians still gather each morning to honor those lost in the war.

Ihor Reva, deputy head of Kyiv’s military administration, said the ritual fulfills a deep social and personal need.

“This war has a price, and that price is terrible — human lives,” he said. “You disconnect from everyday thoughts and simply devote that minute to remembrance. That’s what I’d call it — a mindful keeping of time.”

City officials have recently synchronized Kyiv’s traffic lights to turn red at 9 a.m., ensuring the capital joins the nationwide pause.

“Better late than never,” Reva said. “We definitely won’t stop there.”

For activist and campaign supporter Daria Kolomiec, the moment feels both collective and personal.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

People stand in a gym during a nationwide minute of silence in memory of fallen soldiers, who defended their homeland in the war with Russia, in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

Cadets observe a nationwide minute of silence in memory of fallen soldiers, who defended their homeland in the war with Russia, in their classes at a cadets lyceum in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

People stand by their cars during a nationwide minute of silence in memory of fallen soldiers, who defended their homeland in the war with Russia, in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A Tennessee man charged with killing four members of the same family and kidnapping a baby before eluding authorities for a week is scheduled Monday to make his first court appearance since he was indicted.

Austin Robert Drummond is expected to appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment in circuit court in Lake County, located in rural northwest Tennessee.

A grand jury indicted Drummond on Nov. 10 on charges including first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the July 29 shootings. Drummond had pleaded not guilty in a lower court before a judge ruled there was enough evidence for his case to proceed to the grand jury.

Drummond is accused of the deaths of the parents, grandmother and uncle of an infant found abandoned in a home’s front yard in rural west Tennessee. A weeklong search for Drummond ended on Aug. 5 in Jackson, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) southeast of the location of the killings in Tiptonville.

Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty if Drummond is convicted of first-degree murder at trial.

An FBI agent testified at a hearing in September that data from a cellphone used by Drummond showed he was in the vicinity of a wooded area where the bodies were found with gunshot wounds and covered by tarpaulins.

But Drummond’s attorney, Bryan Huffman, argued that there was no evidence presented during the hearing that showed Drummond actually shot any of the victims.

On the day of the shootings, officers responded to a call of an infant in a car seat being dropped off at a “random individual’s front yard” roughly 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Tiptonville, the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office has said.

Then investigators in neighboring Lake County reported four people had been found dead from gunshot wounds in Tiptonville. They were identified as the baby’s parents, James M. Wilson, 21, and Adrianna Williams, 20; Williams’ brother, Braydon Williams, 15; and their mother, Cortney Rose, 38.

Drummond’s girlfriend is the sister of the infant’s grandmother, according to Lake County District Attorney Danny Goodman.

In all, five people have been charged with being accessories after the fact in the case.

Drummond has served prison time for robbing a convenience store and threatening to go after jurors. He was also charged with the attempted murder of a prison guard while behind bars, and he was out on bond at the time of the killings, Goodman has said.

With a population of about 3,400 people, Tiptonville is about 120 miles (195 kilometers) north of Memphis, near the Mississippi River and scenic Reelfoot Lake.

FILE - Defendant Austin Drummond, accused of quadruple murder, appears in court during a preliminary hearing Sept. 4, 2025, in Tiptonville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, Pool, File)