The husband shares a heartbreaking story: – Killed with the children as witnesses

– I still can not understand it. My children will now grow up without a mother.

Over the phone from the hospital, Andriy tells about what happened on March 1. His voice breaks.

Three weeks ago, he experienced the worst nightmare of his life. On what used to be the road to Lviv, should now be the road to security.

But then something happens that is absolutely not going to happen.

Behind the wheel sits his wife Svitlana with Andriy by her side. Their two children are sitting in the back seat. Eight-year-old Artem and ten-year-old Myroslav have lived with the uncertainty of which Ukraine they will grow up in since the Russian invasion.

While sitting in the car, they suddenly hear a bang. A Russian sniper hits Svitlana, who falls lifeless in her husband’s lap, he says. In a short time, the family of four becomes the family of three.

– It’s absolutely awful, says Andriy.

Andriy fears new attacks, and quickly checks if the children are doing well. Then the father gives a message to the sons that he never thought he would have to give.

– I said they had to play dead. I did not know if the snipers were looking for them. This is not just fascism, it is Russian fascism. It’s much, much worse, he says.

Kyiv Independent mentioned the case first.

– Did not have time to think

– What is it like to have to tell your children that they have to play dead, while their mother is dead in the car?

– They were extremely brave. They realized they had no choice. I can not imagine what I would have done if I were their age in that situation.

While Andriy is trying to hide his eldest son, he is shot in the leg.

– I did not have time to think, I had to save my boys.

With gunshot wounds to the leg, he tries to hide his youngest son, Myroslav. The son is shot in the leg and falls.

Confronted the Russians

Just seconds after the mother was killed and the children were shot, Russian tanks arrive.

– They checked if everything was fine. When they saw what had happened…

Andriy takes a deep breath.

– They realized that they had attacked a woman and two small children.

Andriy says that he talked to the soldiers and wondered why they did such things.

– We had no weapons, we had nothing. They said it was an order and that they had to follow it, he says.

While Andriy is talking to the soldiers, his wife is lying dead in the car. He calls the parents-in-law and asks if they can pick up his deceased daughter. Andriy wants a confirmation from the soldiers.

– They had to confirm that snipers would not shoot her parents when they took her out. The soldiers stayed by the car and closed the road so they could get her out.

– That was our goal

When Dagbladet talks to Andriy, he is in a hospital bed in a hospital in the western city Khmelnytski.

In the next room is his youngest son who is being treated for gunshot wounds to the leg. Andriy says they have been told that the treatment can take up to eight months.

His eldest son is taken care of by Andriy’s brother-in-law.

– We talk regularly on the phone about what we have been through. He understands more of it than the youngest. He is better off with my brother-in-law than he would have been here, says Andriy.

When asked how he sees the future, his voice breaks again.

– My wife and I had a dream that they will get a good education and live a happy life. Now it’s just my dream, he concludes.