Her bloodied and gauze-tied face provided the first grim proof of the barbarism that Russian President Vladimir Putin was about to inflict on Ukraine.
Olena Kirillo was blinded in her right eye when a rocket destroyed her apartment building during the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While the terrified kindergarten teacher had taken refuge in a cold, dark basement, her blood-stained face was featured on the front pages of the international media, sparking a wave of disgust against Putin.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, he helped Olena escape from Ukraine and arranged for surgery in Poland, with doctors hoping to save her eye and restore at least part of her vision.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail from the hospital bed, the 52-year-old woman said: “I am grateful and I will be until the end. “Now I have hope.”
Olena, who is half Russian, was left with glass in her right eye and hundreds of particles embedded in her skin when a rocket exploded outside her two-bedroom apartment in Chuhuiv, a town near Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.
Doctors had already warned the woman that she needed eye surgery as soon as possible, but on Friday a specialist in a Polish hospital gave the bad news: surgeons are fighting to save her eye and, a month after her injuries, she is in danger. to show a fatal infection from her wounds.
“This is to save your eye, not your vision,” the ophthalmologist told her seriously. “She will lose her eye if left untreated and this could lead to meningitis.”
Speaking to the newspaper, she bravely told the shocking story of how she escaped the attack with her 27-year-old daughter, but also the pain she feels she was forced to leave behind her 54-year-old husband.
As he describes, the couple woke up at 5.20 in the morning of February 24 from three huge explosions that seem to have come from a nearby military airport. It was less than an hour after Putin announced his intention to invade.
“We were watching the news, but we never thought a war would really start,” he said. “My first thoughts were that this was really happening.” There was a short period of silence before a big bang.
“Mykola (her husband) left to fill the car with gasoline so we could escape while I was doing things. “But his tire burst and the 30 minutes he spent replacing the wheel saved his life.”
Having gathered the necessary documents of the couple, Olena was sitting on a sofa in their bedroom when she suddenly heard a loud noise and saw fragments of glass being thrown at her.
“It’s like a photograph, I can depict it so clearly. “The window broke into a thousand small pieces,” he said. “It’s a miracle I survived. I just remember thinking, ‘I’m not ready to die.’ We had just renovated our house. “I could never have imagined that someone could lose something so quickly.”
The rocket opened a 30-foot-wide crater next to the parking lot where Mykola parked his car. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a police station. There was a minute of silence before Olena heard people shouting for help.
“Blood was running down my face and I could not see anything. I had hundreds of glass particles inside my skin, but I did not feel any pain as I was shocked. At that point I did not know there was glass in my eye as it was full of blood. “I continued to wipe my face with clothes to stop the bleeding, but I did not.”
Olena called her husband and daughter, Katia, to tell them she was alive before she could find an ambulance for first aid. There he was photographed by the American photographer Wolfgang Schwan, whose image quickly spread around the world. She then waited for her husband to return before going to the hospital because “there were many more injured” who “needed an ambulance more than her”.
At a nearby hospital, the woman said she had an injury to her right eye – but was simply given eye drops, as there were no ophthalmologists in town.
As Russian attacks around Kharkov intensified, the couple sought refuge in a small forest village outside the city, while their daughter fled to the city of Dnipro with her two cats.
Olena and her husband spent 12 terrifying days in the basement of the remote house. “We saw that the area was completely destroyed and we saw the rockets,” he said, adding that “we could feel the shock waves from the explosions. I did not dare to leave. “
According to him, he was sleeping in the bathroom on yoga mats. “I did not want to be around the windows. I would only sleep in the bathroom. “It was not safe in the bedroom, as it was a room with windows.” At this point, Olena knew she was also the victim of a miserable Russian misinformation campaign as false allegations were spread on the internet that her photo was fake and that she was an actress. “It was horrible,” he said. “I felt offended.”
Mail on Sunday remained in contact with Olena, while she was trapped in the shelter. He said he desperately wanted to leave, but that it was too dangerous to do so.
Olena’s salvation came when a truck driver delivering supplies to the area agreed to take her with him.
“He smuggled me to Kharkov through the forest,” she said. “I spent the trip curled up like a ball in the front seat to hide. I had to leave my husband behind, as he had to take care of his paralyzed mother.
“If I did not have my wounds, I would not have left my husband. “I had to save my sight, as I work with children and I love my job.”
Arriving at the Kharkiv train station, Olena boarded a train to Dnipro, where her daughter Katia was staying with a friend after leaving the bombed-out city.
Last Tuesday, she received a call from employees of the Ukrainian Red Cross in Lviv, with whom The Mail on Sunday had contacted for help and offered to transport her to the Polish border.
That night Olena and her daughter boarded a train for a 20-hour drive from Dnipro to Lviv.
“They were cramped,” he said. “I did not sleep at all. I was one of seven people sitting in a four-seater carriage, with a 30-pound dog in the middle. But everyone was consoling each other. I was worried they might bomb us. “They turned off the lights on the train and told us that we could not use our phone so that the lights would not attract Russian forces.”
On Wednesday, the 52-year-old and her daughter moved to Poland, having their whole life crammed into a bag and a backpack.
On Friday, after two days of necessary rest, the Daily Mail journalist transported Olena to a hospital in Poland.
Although she knew she needed urgent care, she believed it would be a simple procedure. But during the appointment, the specialist told her that her condition was more serious, saying: “She should have had surgery a month ago – and even then it would be difficult to restore perfect vision. He has a penetrating wound of the eyeball, retinal detachment and bleeding “.
Hearing the sad news, Olena put her head in her hands and said: “I did not think it was so serious. “There was no doubt that I would lose my eye.”
He was rushed to hospital and is expected to have surgery tomorrow. Doctors say there is a chance the woman will regain her sight.
“I was shocked,” he said yesterday. “I hoped they would be able to restore my sight and I could see again,” he added.
Olena, who is scared when she hears an airplane from above, says that the injury has changed her, but she does not feel hatred. “I do not understand when I look in the mirror. “I can not accept the reality.”
Indeed, she is still wearing the black coat she wore on the day her apartment building was destroyed.
“I know I have this wound and I know I was one of the first victims of the war, but I understand that I am one of the many. I know that many will never be able to receive the help I have. “
In fact, he urges Ukraine to continue resisting the Russian invasion and hopes to return to its beloved country soon.
“Every Ukrainian citizen and volunteer, do your utmost to keep Ukraine a free and independent country. Please support us. “If Ukraine wins, the whole world will win, the whole of humanity will win.”
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