“I prayed for a miracle, but it did not happen”
Nastia, Timura's mother, tells us that the boy wanted to visit his grandma in Kramatorsk. They were to go home to Kiev together, but the boy insisted on staying 1 more night. Eventually, they planned a journey to the capital to Ukraine by train that departed 9 hours after the Russian raid on Kramatorsk.
That night Timur slept in his guest area in Grandma's apartment. His mom was out of the house. Shortly after the explosion, however, she returned in a hurry to the block. Meanwhile, her sister called her. “She told me, “They took Mom and they are looking for Timur under the rubble”. From that minute on, I felt like I was asleep.”
Maria Senovilla / PAPCemetery in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, April 27, 2025 (illustration picture)
“The soldier came out and said he had a pulse and they were resuscitating him. For 40 minutes, erstwhile they pumped his heart, I prayed to God to give him life. But the miracle did not happen," the female recalls.
She lost her boy and 2 husbands.
When asked what was bothering her most, Nastia said through tears: “I was not home at the time. I don't know why or how, what kind of forces got me out of there. I should have been with him. I blame myself very much."
Timur lost his father, Evgeny, in May 2023 in a Russian attack close the city of Lyman. The boy was Nastia's only child. After Evgeny died, the female remarried, but her second husband died just six months later of a heart attack.
Timur was an empathetic child, attentive to the surroundings. Teachers described him as “a very thoughtful, smart boy, very smart.” 2 home rats were waiting for him in Kiev, who “he loved very much.”
“Ukrainian soldiers live among us and through them we are the target”
Timur was buried on a hill on the outskirts of the town of Kramatorsk. The chalkstone is covered with flowers. There are many fresh pits in the cemetery, indicating that the city's pain is far from over.
On the roof of the block that was destroyed in the Russian raid, there are scattered plastic toys, filled with cardboard and pieces of asphalt. There are inactive traces of Timur's blood on the stairwell, and the neighbour collects pieces of broken glass, sighing. Another aged female who cultivates plants in the yard whispers: “Ukrainian soldiers live among us and due to them we are the target.”
Over 2,700 Ukrainian children killed or injured by Russians
According to a UNICEF study published in July this year, as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, over 2,700 children were killed or injured. Timur Grygorenko is only 1 of them. But behind almost all war victim is simply a parent like Nastia. A female who will never get over the thought that they weren't there erstwhile her baby was killed.
The war in Ukraine inactive leaves behind not only demolished buildings and more graves in cemeteries, but besides ruined lives of those who survived. And stories specified as Timura and his parent Nastia during the 4th year of invasion are unfortunately expanding due to the fact that Russia in its quest to subjugate Ukraine does not back distant from attacking civilian targets or killing prisoners of war, even though it is war crimes.
