Ukraine: The shocking story of a police officer who lost his entire family

2022-05-18 22:44:11Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

 

Ukraine: The shocking story of a police officer who lost his entire family
In the photo: Ivan Simoroz

 

 

26-year-old officer Ivan Simoroz from Borodyanka, near Kiev, told BBC News the biggest tragedy of his life.

"On February 26, we were talking at the police station and then we heard a loud boom. The ground was shaking, I started calling each of my relatives, wife, brother, mother, father, grandmother. "I realized something bad had happened."

Ukraine: The shocking story of a police officer who lost his entire family

Ivan had heard the bombings and knew something had been attacked, but he had no idea what. He drove away with the police chief and some colleagues to his house on Tsentralna Street and before his eyes appeared the dilapidated house.

“Terror. War. It was very scary and hard to understand. "Hope someone was still alive, maybe they were hiding in the basement," he said.

 

Ukraine: The shocking story of a police officer who lost his entire family
In the photo: Ivan Simoroz (right) photographed with (from left) his brother, Petro, 21, his father, Vasyl, mother Natalya and wife, Olena, 27

 

Neighbors and relatives quickly arrived to help him search for his loved ones.

Ivan found his mother first, lying dead near the refrigerator. Then, 200 meters away he found the body of his younger brother. He had lost both legs and arms. Then he found his dead grandmother, covered in bricks. Ivan's aunt found his one-year-old daughter, Polina, on a sofa, still breathing. Then Ivan's wife was found. Then his father. Both dead. Unfortunately, little Polina died at the hospital a little later.

Ukraine: The shocking story of a police officer who lost his entire family
In the photo: Ivan's daughter, Polina, died at the hospital later that day

That day, Ivan lost six members of his family. Ivan's house was the first to be hit in Borodyanka and later the city would become one of the most bombed out places in this war.



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