The farewell ceremony for mayor Hennadiy Kernes has begun in the foyer of the Kharkiv Opera and Ballet Theatre.

As the Interfax-Ukraine agency correspondent reports, mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko, MPs Yevhen Murayev and Vadym Novynsky, as well as former mayor and ex-head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, MP of previous convocations Mykhailol Dobkin came to say goodbye to Kernes. The ceremony is also attended by a businessman and friend of Kernes Pavlo Fuks and the secretary of the Kharkiv City Council.

In front of the opera house there is a line of the city residents who have come to say goodbye to Kernes. It stretches to Shevchenko's garden. People stand close to each other, several people in a row, but most are wearing masks.

In the morning, before the beginning of the farewell ceremony, a funeral service for Kernes was held in the Annunciation Cathedral.

As reported, Kernes died at the age of 62 in the Berlin Charite clinic, where he received treatment after complications from COVID-19.

Kernes was first elected as a mayor of Kharkiv in 2010. In 2015, he was re-elected to the post, winning the first round of elections. On November 4, 2020, the Kharkiv City Territorial Election Commission again recognized Kernes as the elected mayor. He received the largest number of votes cast in the elections - 60.34% of people voted for him.