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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Isobel Koshiw in Kyiv

’Collect my parents or collect my son’s body’: a Kyiv family’s tragic plight

Sasha Ivanov with his mother, Sveta, and four-year-old cousin Eva in front of the family Christmas tree last December
Sasha Ivanov with his mother, Sveta, and four-year-old cousin Eva in front of the family Christmas tree last December. Photograph: Supplied

The day Russian troops invaded Ukraine, 18-year-old Oleksandr Ivanov was shot in the forehead and 10 times in the chest while in the passenger seat of his grandmother’s car. They had been driving to Hostomel, outside Kyiv, to pick up his grandfather and bring him to the capital.

Oleksandr, known as Sasha, did not have the life of an ordinary 18-year-old. His mother, Sveta, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when Sasha was three. Sasha had spent his life taking care of her, helping her dress, wash and go to the toilet.

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