“My wife and mother-in-law died. There was no neurosurgeon. There was no one to operate. Two hours later, my daughter also died”

In Mariupol, the family was hiding in their house. On March 14, massive shelling began. A shell hit the house. The roof caught fire. Ilya, his wife Tetiana, their daughters Varvara and Karina, and their grandmother Zhanna Oleksandrivna ran outside to get to the nearest shelter. But the children did not have time to put on their shoes. So Iliia ran home. And at that time he heard the sound of an airplane. He shouted, “Get down!” Then, he ran into the house. An air strike followed. The man grabbed the shoes and ran back to his family. 

“I started calling my wife and children. The elder daughter Karina answered. She had small burns on her back. My younger, Varia, was wounded in the chest, and her head was smashed. I could not find my wife Tetiana immediately. My mother-in-law, Zhanna Oleksandrivna, walked another 20 meters. She was wounded in the chest. She lived for two more minutes. I apologized to her and said I had to save the girls. I found my wife. A fence had fallen on her. Her head was smashed. Tetiana died instantly,” Iliia recalls.

A few hours later, his younger daughter Varia died in the hospital.