“I found my son’s dog in Mariupol, but I can’t find him”: the story of a volunteer who has been waiting for her son from captivity for 19 months

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“Mom, I don’t know who is protecting me, but I walked 400 meters of hell and came back…”

All photos were provided by the heroine

Natalia is from the regional center of Volyn, she is 48 years old, she is a doctor by education. The woman dreamed that her first-born Dmytro would also become a doctor, the husband wanted his son to follow his path and become a soldier. Dmytro realized the dream of both his parents – he became a military medic.

In 2018, after completing his military service, Dmytro signed a contract with the 36th Marine Brigade and went to serve. Since then, he has been defending the country “at zero” all the time. The call sign of a military doctor is Dr. Khlus.

Natalya, when her son went to fight, started volunteering. She says that she could not sit and do nothing when her little girl was risking her own life. She asked her son not to go to war, but he answered briefly: “This is not negotiable. You must accept my choice“.

And she accepted.

“One boy was injured, he ran not towards the trench, but towards the mined field, where he hit a mine. The son rushed after him and saved him. Then he wrote to me: “Mom, I don’t know who is protecting me, but I walked 400 meters of hell and came back“. The boy lost his sight, but remained alive. Many of the boys saved by him wrote and continue to write to me, support me, say that they are praying for him and assure me: Dmytro will definitely return.”– says Natalia.

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She learned about the fact that her son was in captivity from a message

Natalia’s son Dmytro

During his service in 2021, Dmytro fulfilled his old dream – he bought himself an American pit bull puppy, named it Athena. And the dog became his faithful four-legged companion.

Dmytro met the full-scale invasion of Russia in Shyrokyn. The position of their brigade was one of the first to be “covered” by the Russians.

“In the afternoon of February 24, they received an order to retreat to Mariupol, to the Ilyich plant. And the next day he called me via video link, we talked for a very long time. The son gave instructions on how to behave during the shelling. And he also asked me to take his 7-year-old sister Oleksandra and 17-year-old brother Yegor abroad, which I actually did“, our heroine continues.

Once every few days, Dmytro sent a short message to his mother with the news that he was alive and that the boys were holding on. Although in fact they did not have food, water, or medicine at that time. In just one month of full-scale war, he was concussed three times.

And already on April 12, 2022, Dmytro was captured. Then Natalia received a text message on her phone: “Mom, I’m in captivity“. And in half an hour she was able to talk to her son on the phone: “Mother, I am alive, pray for our exchange“. And that’s all.

Already later, from the words of Dmitry’s sister Yulia, who was released from captivity, the mother learns that the Russians ordered to release his dog, otherwise the dog would be shot. With a heavy heart, the military medic released the animal. “If possible, find Athena“, Yulia conveyed Dmytro’s words to her relatives.

Since then, the relatives did not know anything about the whereabouts of the military medic. Natalya only managed to find out that Dmytro was taken to the Russian Federation even before the brutal murder of our prisoners in Olenivka.

Natalia at a rally in support of captured servicemen

A letter from his son from captivity

Last year, on August 30, the mother received a letter from Dmytro. Judging by the date of writing, he walked for three months. Nataliya admits that since then there hasn’t been a day that she hasn’t read such a precious piece of news from her son without tears.

“Mom, I have a lot of time here to think things over. I’m sorry that I rarely told you that I love you. You are the best mom, I love you, thank you for life“, Dmytro wrote so succinctly, who in his peaceful life was very difficult to “lead” to emotions.

He also asked for forgiveness from his father, with whom he quarreled before the war.

“And then the son wrote that “well fed, clothed, walked. Almost like a resort“. And at the end there was a “smiley” which meant that Dmytro was obviously writing about the resort in captivity with sarcasm“, Natalia adds.

“I found my son’s dog, but not his”

Dmytro’s dog

Immediately after Dmytro’s capture, Natalya began to search for Athena. After a year of active searching, the woman gave up on her idea, because it was almost impossible to find a thoroughbred dog in the destroyed city. But one day they wrote to her that they saw a dog on the territory of a communal enterprise in Mariupol, which is near the Illich plant. They sent a photo and a video, by which the woman was sure: it was Athena. After all, she had a bunch of photos of the dog that Dmytro sent earlier.

Returning the dog home turned into a real epic.

The evacuation was helped by volunteers who brought Athena to Warsaw through Russia, Lithuania and Latvia, where Natalia was already waiting for her together with the director of the Lutsk Zoo Lyudmila Denysenko, who has experience in handling animals.

Surprisingly, the dog immediately accepted his new owner.

“And already in the apartment, Athena found Dimin slippers and did not leave him, put her head on him and lay like that.” – the woman recalls.

Seven puppies were recently born to Athena, six of which Natalya gave to her friends and one she kept for herself. The woman is happy that she was able to bring her son’s dog home.

During all this time, Natalia did not stop searching for her son. She says that there is probably no such place where she would not turn. Recorded a bunch of video appeals to various structures, went to protest actions. However, there is only one answer – “wait and believe.” The woman does not want to mention the Red Cross, she says, this organization does not fulfill its functions at all.

Read also: “We can’t take a position, because it’s not our job”: the director general of the Red Cross on neutrality and access to Ukrainian prisoners.

Natalia with her children and her captured son’s dog

Every time Natalya rereads the news about the exchange of prisoners with trepidation, and every time her heart sinks with excruciating pain, because Dmytro is not among the freed.

“I found his dog, but I can’t find his son“, the woman says with pain.

After a little recovery from a serious illness, Natalia returned to volunteering. This business helps her distract herself from painful thoughts. And she also submitted documents for admission to the Volyn National University for the specialty “psychologist”, because she knows that her son and many other military personnel, after everything they are going through, cannot do without professional psychological support.

“And I am also glad that when my son finally returns, he will be proud of his mother, who was not broken by the war, or the terrible news of capture, or cancer,” the woman concludes.

Read also: “They don’t think you’re human.” Stories of women who survived Russian captivity”

Iryna Bura, UP. Life