The son of Natalia and Oleksandr, Daniel, is only 6 years old. Before the war, he went to the first grade in school. His favorite subject was mathematics. Chernihiv was under constant shelling since the first days of the war. The school, which the boy loved so much, was also damaged during the attacks.

After the first week of the war, the apartment where the family stayed had no heating and electricity. After another three days, the water was turned off. The family lived using only a few liters of water that they managed to stock up. On March 17, they used all the water they had. They decided to split up: the father would go to look for water and his wife and child would be heading to the bomb shelter.But as soon as they left the building, the shelling started. They heard the first blast – it was a cluster munition. “Everything around me started exploding. The windows in the house were broken. I felt that something hit my leg and I was in a lot of pain. Then there was an explosion next to my son. We all fell to the ground, and my wife and I tried to cover the child with our bodies. I thought my leg was torn off, but I was more worried about my son and wife, ”says father Oleksandr.

6-year-old boy received abdominal injuries, multiple shrapnel wounds to his legs, a fracture of the lower limb, and 2 fragments were stuck in the child’s back. His mother suffered identical leg injuries, the shrapnel cut her artery. Oleksandr immediately pulled the belt of the bag around his wife’s leg to stop the bleeding. The father says he was surprised to see his leg was still there.

The son, the mother, and the father were taken to different hospitals in Chernihiv. They saw many wounded and dead on the streets and in hospitals. For four days the parents didn’t know the whereabouts of their child. All the family members were badly injured and couldn’t move. The doctors didn’t know the name of the 6-year-old, so he wasn’t registered under his name. But, in the end, the parents were able to find their son. The family hasn’t seen each other for 16 days.

The boy’s injury was so severe that Chernihiv doctors had to remove over 60 centimeters of his intestinal. Volunteers helped the family evacuate to Kyiv to continue their treatment there. The entire family is now in the Ohmatdyt’s department of orthopedics and traumatology. Our doctors performed surgeries for all victims and removed the fragments from their bodies. The family has to go through a long healing process.