Last April, Boutcha’s images created a stir on the international scene, and even caused a temporary halt in exchanges between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putine. After the Russian withdrawal from this city located on the outskirts of Kyiv, dozens of corpses were discovered, sometimes lying on the road, still on their bicycles, or in basements.
Among the victims of abuse committed by Vladimir Putin’s men, the parents of Ruslan, 6, and Bogdan, 5. Two war orphans, who eventually found refuge with Dmytro and Natalia Potienko, a family of Ukrainians living in the south of Kyiv. Although they are already the parents of a little girl, they did not hesitate as soon as they found out about the existence of orphans in Boutcha.
“We knew we had to help them”
“With our bulletproof vests, we left for Boutcha 3 hours away. We didn’t know if there were still missiles that could drop. We just knew that we had to help them as soon as possible. Boutcha was off-limits to civilians, but with the ambulance, we were able to get through,” Dmytro, who runs a hospital, told BFMTV.
Very soon, the two orphans settled in the Potienko family home, together with their new sister, Oleksandra, 6 years old as Ruslan.
“We didn’t say anything special, but they spontaneously started calling us mom and dad. They understood that we had come to look for them in our family,” continues Dmytro.
children without memories
Given the possible trauma they have experienced, the two brothers are followed psychologically. Nothing is known about what happened to their parents, and both Bogdan and Ruslan cannot, or do not want to, remember their past in Boutcha under Russian occupation.
When asked if he remembers anything, Ruslan brushes off the question: “nothing at all.”
“They never talk about it, they can never say where they lived and with whom, they have no memory. Well, maybe yes, but they are stagnant, they only live in the present”, says Natalia.
“It’s so much happiness”
Together with Dmytro, they gained legal custody of the two children, but are still not fully their parents under Ukrainian law: adoptions have been frozen since the start of the war.
A detail for Dmytro, whom the war made the father of two other children.
“We knew what we were doing. And yes, it’s more work, but they give me much more than what I give them, it’s a lot of happiness,” he says.
Source: BFM TV
