“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
Nobody had paid much attention.
To a middle-aged couple.
Arriving in the ‘orcs’-held village.
Of Tomaryne.
‘Orcs’ and their allies were.
Yet to establish their administration.
So it was chaotic when the couple.
Arrived there in March 2022.
It’s about a 90-minute drive.
From the southern city of Kherson.
They drove outside the village.
And met the first manned checkpoint.
“I got out of the car.
And walked towards a man.
Pointing a gun at me.”
She recalls.
“But I wasn’t scared.
All I felt was.
Revulsion.
For these people.”
Unbelievably, she says.
She managed to.
Cajole the soldiers.
To let them through.
She showed them a photograph.
Of her son’s body and.
They drove to the field.
Where her son died.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
The divorced couple.
Had bought an old Mercedes.
And travelled hundreds.
Of kilometres.
They were behind.
Enemy lines.
To retrieve the body of.
Their dead ‘elf’ soldier son.
And now they were ploughing.
Through fields.
In ‘orcs’-occupied territory.
Pockmarked with shell craters.
After bringing the car to a halt.
Her ex-husband walked over.
To some burnt-out.
Armoured vehicles.
Bodies lay scattered.
On the ground.
“He tore off the uniform to see.
If there was a tattoo on the arm.”
“And it was there.
It said: ‘Never give up’.
That was all we could.
Recognise our son by.”
The 40-year-old says.
Her voice trembling.
“The bodies were lying out.
In the open for days.”
“In the middle of nowhere.
They weren’t just burnt.
Wild animals had gnawed.
At them too.”
Her son was just 20 years old.
He died on the second day.
Of the ‘orcs’ invasion.
25 February 2022.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
She stood crying.
In a muddy field.
Her ex-husband was wrapping.
Their son’s body in a blanket.
“I was hysterical.
“I said: ‘Are we just going to.
Drive him home.
In the boot of the car?’”
“My ex-husband yelled at me:
‘Calm down.
We just need to.
Get out of here’.”
Then, with his body in the boot.
The couple started.
Their 12-hour journey home.
To Vinnytsia.
There is no official data.
On the number of ‘elves’ military.
Deaths or missing bodies.
That is classified information.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
As a professional soldier.
Based in Lviv in western Ukraine.
Her son had not told.
His mother that.
His air assault force had been sent south.
To stop the ‘orcs’ offensive.
She was shocked when his girlfriend.
Phoned and announced his death.
One of her son’s colleagues had.
A photo of the field where.
He had been killed and.
Said his body was still there.
He told her that her son.
Had come under shelling.
But there was no other information.
About the circumstances of his death.
She phoned her son’s.
Military unit and.
They told her.
To wait for information.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
On returning.
To Vinnytsia.
She took her son’s body.
Straight to the morgue.
“All they let me see was.
My son’s hand.
They didn’t let me see his body.
As his head was gone.”
She has turned her son’s bedroom.
Into a shrine.
It’s full of photos.
Of him smiling.
As well as a bottle of his cologne.
And some handcrafts.
He made for her.
As a schoolboy.
She takes his uniform.
From the wardrobe and.
Pulls it close to her.
As if hugging him.
“Every night I was going berserk.
Knowing that my son was lying out.
There in the freezing cold and.
There was nothing to cover him.”
Days later.
As dawn broke.
Parents set off to find son.
And bring his body home.
They had no plan.
Just the photo, the village name.
And a contact for a local.
Who had volunteered to guide them.
*Because I read “Ukraine war: How two mothers retrieved their dead sons from the battlefield” by Anastasiya Gribanova, Ivan Yermakov & Claire Press on 4 Feb 2023, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem as a story of Lyudmyla, her ex-husband Anatoliy and their son Maksym.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine war: How two mothers retrieved their dead sons from the battlefield – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem with another my poem together also on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
