Many people will probably recognize this photo.
Meet Vasyl Vasiuta, a 53-year-old man from Ukraine’s Lviv region. He has nine children. Three of his sons went to war. One of them was killed.
Poland is just 10 kilometers from his home. The front line is 1,300 kilometers away. Yet ten years ago, Vasyl volunteered to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
All three of his sons eventually fought alongside him.
In February 2022, his 20-year-old son Dmytro was killed near Mykolaiv. It took nearly a month to find his body. He was finally identified by his tattoo.
Of the three brothers who went to war, Dmytro was killed, Ivan was discharged from the military after being wounded, and Marian is still fighting in the Donbas.
When Marian learned that his brother had been killed, he immediately called his father.
Vasyl had just one word in response:
“Understood.”
After losing his son, Vasyl was wounded himself. His arm hadn't healed, he had lost feeling in three fingers, and his knee still hurt. Yet he kept pushing to return to the front.
“That’s what real courage looks like to me. When Dmytro was killed, my father didn't give up. A week later, he was wounded himself, but he kept fighting,” his son says.
For years, Vasyl sent his sons the same message while they were at the front:
“Son, how are you? Just send me a plus sign on Viber.”
When asked what it's like to have three sons at war, he gives a simple answer:
“Hard. Very hard.”
His injuries and declining health eventually forced him to leave the front. He returned home and now works as a forester.
But his thoughts are still there.
Every day, he walks 20 kilometers through the forest, perhaps trying to quiet the pain he carries inside.
In his home village of Cherneve, 90 of the 800 residents serve in the military. Five have been killed. One is missing.
And Vasyl keeps walking through the forest, thinking of his sons.
Living with a loss that can never be undone and a pain that never truly goes away.
@sabreaxe Same way African Americans are different from africans from the Africa continent but both ancestors originated from Africa their reasons why Jews originally from middle east ended up in Europe
@MasterMaliq It's only practical for a Muslim to be peaceful where he/she is in the minority or among other Muslim for the simple fact islam doesn't preach peace for non believers, Islam believes in barbaric culture like slavery