Family members have not been able to bring themselves to inform Nadya of her father’s death. Galyna wanted to share the story of her son’s story as a way of honouring his sacrifice, but struggled to speak about him in depth, or when they might tell Nadya her father was gone forever. It is the latest blow since the family escaped from Mariupol, where they spent two weeks sheltering in their basement listening to the war destroying their hometown. Simon Townsley, The Telegraph’s photographer, pictured Nadya and her mother Christina as their evacuation convoy arrived in Zaporizhzhia on March 17. The journey out of the shattered city through Russian checkpoints had taken 26 hours and the family arrived exhausted. While Nadya sat silently drinking an apple juice, a tearful Christina was able to video call her husband Oleksandr, who was fighting on the front line, to let them know they had successfully escaped the siege. Nadya, Christina and Galyna would soon leave the country but the men in the family remained behind, with both Galyna’s sons, Oleksandr and Roman, fighting in the Ukrainian military.
