In the days before the withdrawal of Russian troops, Aleksandr had no contact from the capital with his 89-year-old grandmother, who lives in a village near Belarus, Prybirsk. “The last sign of life was a week ago, after that there was no more telecom and electricity.”
The coast seemed clear on Tuesday. Aleksandr then decided to travel to his grandmother with his brother and uncle. She has lived all her life on the piece of land where she was born in 1933. As a child she experienced the heavy fighting around Kiev in World War II. And in 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, about 50 kilometers from her village. “And now in her old age, another war.”
Aleksandr feared for her life. “We were very afraid that when the Russians retreated, they would cause a massacre in Prybirsk, as they Irpin, Boetsja in Borodjanka It was not that bad, the village has largely been left alone. It has ‘just’ been looted, stolen and demolished.
And his grandmother? She turned out to be fine, despite her blood pressure and heart problems. “Her name is Nadia, which means hope,” Aleksandr says proudly.
Aleksandr filmed the reunion with his grandmother:
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