The body of a 25-year-old Georgian volunteer, Jambulat Khoperia, who was killed in Ukraine by Russian troops on December 1, was repatriated to Georgia early on Thursday. 

His relatives, political activists and ordinary citizens were waiting for the process at Tbilisi International Airport. 

His uncle, also Jambulat Khoperia, was killed in the war in the country’s western Abkhazia region, which was also triggered by Russia, while his father, Archil Khoperia, fought in the war in 1993. 

As his father said on social media, Jambulat joined the Russia-Ukraine war from the first days of the outbreak of hostilities. 

That time he was in Munich, Germany. 

Thirty-three Georgian volunteers have been killed by Russian troops in Ukraine since March 18.