The Ukrainian teacher whose blood-splattered bandaged face went viral on the first day of Russia’s invasion fled to Poland to recover from injuries incurred in a missile assault on her home.
Olena Kurilo, 52, suffered a major eye injury as fragments of window glass flew into her face during a missile hit on February 24. The attack demolished her Chuguev apartment building, killing a teenage girl and injured 20 others, according to reports.
“There aren’t any windows or doors. One of the doors even flew open. “The entire floor has been pulled off,” Kurilo stated at the time.
“I’m just incredibly fortunate.” I must have had a very powerful guardian angel to keep me alive.”
According to The Daily Mirror, Kurilo spent the next 22 days hiding in the ruins of her damaged house outside Kharkiv while battle raged on.
She continued to utilise her newfound celebrity as an early defining picture of the human cost of the conflict to advocate for peace, making pleas to Russian President Vladimir Putin in particular.
“She wants to be the face of peace, not conflict,” a family acquaintance told the publication.
On March 13, she apparently posted another call for a cease-fire on Instagram.
“All we need is a no-fly zone; we don’t need bread, food, or water.” Already, the country is in ruins. “Half of Ukraine has already been lost,” she stated.
“How many more injuries and fatalities among defenceless women and children are required?”
Kurilo had also used the social media site to disprove bogus Russian state propaganda stories claiming she was an actress, and the shot was taken in 2018.
According to the article, in one image on her daughter Katerina’s account, she posed with green disinfectant on her bandaged face while displaying her passport to verify her identification.
According to the site, she left her homeland in eastern Ukraine on March 18 and travelled west with Katerina to southern Poland, where she is now undergoing medical care.
Mykola, her 54-year-old husband, remained at home. Under martial law, men of fighting age in Ukraine are forbidden from leaving the nation.
According to the United Nations, about 3.8 million additional Ukrainians have fled, with more than half seeking safety in Poland.
“Russians are so zombified that they believe whatever they are taught.” “Olena wants kids to realise that this is not a game or a movie,” a friend of hers reportedly told a British newspaper.
“If there wasn’t a war, she’d be with her beloved students; she tries to stay in contact with them wherever they are, and she just wants it to be over.”
The announcement comes a day after Ukrainian forces retook control of sections of the seized vital port city of Kherson.
The “first stage” of the assault was declared over by Moscow on Friday, despite ongoing surprisingly intense opposition. After failing to conquer Kyiv, Russian soldiers have shifted their emphasis to the contested Donbas area in the east.
According to UN estimates, at least 1,100 people have been killed since the conflict began more than a month ago. According to the report, the real figure is likely far higher.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Friday that his men had killed 16,000 Russian soldiers.
The US government has warned that such assessments may be untrustworthy.
