Blown up by a mine, went blind and survived separation from his mother: the story of a little boy from the Mykolaiv region

2-year-old Vova from the Mykolaiv region survived a landmine explosion, separation from his mother, indifference of relatives. But the child survived thanks to the help of strangers and is now in the «City of Good».

Volodya's story is told in the report «Ukrainian Pravda. Life».

Vova was born in March 2022. His mother was only 14 years old, and his grandmother suffered from alcoholism. Due to shelling, the family tried to evacuate from Mykolaiv Oblast, but the car blew up on a mine. As a result, the mother received severe injuries and lost both legs, and 3-month-old Vova suffered a skull fracture and brain hemorrhage.

In the summer of 2024, Marta Levchenko, the founder of «Misto Dobra» and the «House of Butterflies» children's hospice, saw a video about a little boy and started looking for the child.

«According to the documents, we can see that he was immediately hospitalized in the children's intensive care unit in Ochakiv with a skull fracture, and the girl — in an «adult» hospital with traumatic amputations. Since then, mother and son have not crossed paths or seen each other. Later, she was deprived of parental rights because she could not take care of the child. Volodia's father went to serve and, unfortunately, died,» she said.

Then the baby was transferred to a hospital in Mykolaiv, then — three medical facilities in Kyiv, including Okhmatdyt. In the capital, the boy was placed under the care of a 32-year-old grandmother. But she lost her grandson in the park, the child was found hungry and dehydrated by the police.

After that, Volodia was admitted to the Sumy Hospital in the psychoneurological department.

«The first few weeks we talked with him, got to know each other. I tried various soft techniques so as not to provoke convulsive attacks. He is a very good contact child, he started responding to my voice,» says physical therapist Yelyzaveta Bondarenko.

She noted that it was even possible to work on some social skills — the boy could hold a spoon in his hand and tried to turn the wheels of cars with his finger. But due to constant shelling, Volodia's psycho-emotional condition began to deteriorate, he screamed and cried from the sounds of sirens and explosions.

Volunteer Roman Kholodov helped to take Volodia out of the front-line region. It evacuates critically ill and palliative patients from the gray zone.

«At that time, we just had an ambulance, it was the first flight — to Sumy. An anesthesiologist from the «City of Good» left together with Roman. They took the boy and brought him to us,» said Marta Levchenko.

During several weeks of stay in the «City of Good», the condition of 2-year-old Volodya stabilized.

«He is already smiling here and loves to be in our arms and hugs. If you leave him alone, then something similar to a panic attack occurs - he starts screaming, crying. Because he perceives this world through touch. Previously, unfortunately, this kind of interaction was also painful for the baby, because he was touched only to insert a feeding tube. It caused a lot of stress, pain and cramps,» she explains.

The boy has a complex compressive brain injury that affected his development and vision. Currently, the baby is being prepared for a gastrostomy in the «City of Good» to facilitate feeding. Although the time for complete rehabilitation is lost, specialists are working to ensure that the boy can live as comfortably as possible.

Note that according to the UN, the number of cases of murder and mutilation of children increased by 35% in the last year alone.