Liudmyla Bikus recalled how she had tried to dissuade her son Andrii from joining the army. That was in March, weeks after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, one year ago today. “Andrii told me: ‘Mum if I don’t go then who will?’” Bikus said. She added: “He was a golden boy. The best son, husband, father and brother. He wanted to defend his country and his family.”
Andrii was quickly dispatched to the eastern front. Less than three months later he was dead, fatally wounded on 6 June near the city of Lysychansk. A Russian shell landed on top of his artillery position. He was taken to hospital and died from blood loss on the operating table. Eight men from his company perished in the same lethal strike.
