An interpreter at the European Parliament broke down in tears as she translated the testimony of an 11-year-old Ukrainian boy.
The boy described how a Russian missile strike killed his mother and left him with life-threatening burns.
Roman Oleksiv spoke to lawmakers in Strasbourg during a presentation on the experiences of Ukrainian children affected by the war.
Highlights
- An interpreter at the European Parliament broke down in tears translating the story of an 11-year-old Ukrainian boy’s trauma.
- Roman Oleksiv recounted how a Russian missile strike killed his mother and left him with life-threatening burns at age seven.
- Roman spent over 100 days in a coma and underwent 35 surgeries after suffering burns on 45% of his body.
An interpreter broke down while translating the story of an 11-year-old Ukrainian boy
Image credits: The Independent/YouTube
He recounted the day in July 2022 when three Russian missiles hit a hospital in Vinnytsia, killing 24 people and injuring at least 202 others.
Oleksiv had been visiting the hospital with his mother, Halyna Halina, when the rockets struck. He was seven years old at the time. The blast buried his mother under debris and left him with burns covering nearly half his body.
“I was able to touch her hair, and I could say goodbye to her,” Oleksiv told the Parliament.
“This is the last time I saw my mum. It’s also the last time I could say goodbye,” Oleksiv told the Parliament. As he spoke, the interpreter translating his words into English became overwhelmed and paused, wiping away tears.
A colleague briefly stepped in to continue the translation before she was able to resume.
Image credits: The Independent/YouTube
Oleksiv described seeing his mother’s hair beneath the rubble and touching it as he said farewell. He then recounted how he crawled to safety. He spent more than 100 days in a coma and later underwent 35 surgeries to repair deep burns and shrapnel injuries.
He also suffered horrifying burns to 45 per cent of his body, most of which were “down to the bone.”
Doctors initially warned he might never walk again.
When Oleksiv awoke from a coma, he had casts on all four of his limbs and his head, and had lost most of his hair.
After being stabilized in Lviv, Oleksiv spent a year in a specialist clinic in Dresden, Germany, undergoing surgeries, before he was able to eventually return home to Lviv with his father, Yaroslav.
“We did not know whether he would be able to walk, move his hand or his fingers,” his father said. “But thanks to [the medics'] work, to Roman's work, his superhuman efforts... all this opened the door for us to return to dancing, to playing musical instruments.”
Despite the trauma, Oleksiv returned to school and resumed ballroom dancing, a passion he had held before the attack. He also began playing the bayan and later won a competition for his performance.
His recovery became the focus of a documentary titled Romchyk, created by students at Goldsmiths, University of London.