When rescue workers reached Tetyana Sakyian, the pregnant Ukrainian was so severely burnt medics were forced to induce her into a coma and deliver her baby prematurely.
She had been pulled from the scorching rubble by husband Vadym Bohdan who described the pain as ‘almost catatonic’ after a Shahed drone incinerated their Kyiv apartment.
The inferno scorched nearly every inch of her flesh, risked killing the unborn child and the searing agony was so total it was overwhelming her brain.
Tetyana, 23, suffered 90 per cent burns but miraculously surgeons managed to deliver little Nazar at 35 weeks within hours of the drone strike – though he is still fighting for his life.
When Vadym awoke he was mummified in bandages as he had lost almost his entire skin barrier – but his first words were for his wife.
Told he was a father while she lay fighting for her life, he tried to drag himself to her bedside, blocking out his own unimaginable pain.
He was restrained for his own survival, only to learn last Monday that Tetyana succumbed to her injuries. She became the sixth victim of Russia’s biggest ever drone strike on Ukraine on September 7.
Baby Nazar is fighting for his life after being delivered prematurely
Vadym Bohdan tried to force his way to his wife’s bedside after learning she had given birth
Vadym and Tetyana moved to Kyiv six months ago to build a family together
‘When he learnt that Tetyana had given birth to their son, and about the state she was in, he first begged to be taken to her,’ Vadym’s sister Oksana Bohdan, 26, told the Daily Mail.
‘Then he tried to reach her by force. Doctors had to restrain him, tying him to his bed, so that he would not accidentally harm himself given the severity of his burns.’
Oksana was driving to Kyiv City Hospital No 2 to ‘hold my little nephew’ for the first time when they called to let her know Tetyana had slipped away.
‘After the long road, I can hardly find the words,’ Oksym told us through tears after getting the news.
‘My brother Vadym already knows that the woman he loved has died. I cannot describe his grief — my own tears choke me.
‘Now I am gathering the last of my strength to go to the clinic and see my nephew, little Nazar, whose life the doctors are still fighting to save.
‘This is what Russians brought to my country and my family, curse them.’
Vadym before his wife succumbed to her injuries
The funeral for Tetyana who was hit in Russia’s biggest ever drone strike on Ukraine
Vadym and Tetyana’s tragic story is just a small glimpse of the terror Volodymyr Zelensky warned the UN last week that Vladimir Putin’s drones are inflicting.
While the dictator has increasingly used them to probe NATO allies in recent weeks, each night they torment millions of Ukrainians as they sleep with nearly 600 swarming the country on Saturday.
Vadym and Tetyana moved from Tyshkivka, a village in the central Kirovohrad region, to the capital to build a family together six months ago.
But they were woken by the tell-tale buzz of the Shahed on September 7.
‘They first heard the drone fly past, so they went back to bed — and then it came back,’ said Oksana.
‘It was a targeted strike on a civilian building. They were in bed when the drone hit their apartment and the fire broke out.
‘Vadym told me he pulled Tetyana out from under the rubble with his own hands. The two of them, almost catatonic with pain, somehow managed to call for help and alert the rescuers.
‘Not long after, Tetyana started losing consciousness, and the doctors had no choice but to deliver her baby prematurely.’
Tatyana Bondarenko, Deputy Director for Medical Affairs of Kyiv City Medical Centre, said it was ‘an extremely complex undertaking’ to deliver Nazar who, like his father, remains in a critical condition. If he pulls through, Vadym will forever bear the scars from September 7.
Tatyana Bondarenko, Deputy Director for Medical Affairs of Kyiv City Medical Centre, said it was ‘an extremely complex undertaking’ to deliver Nazar
Firefighters work at the site of an overnight Russian attack in Kyiv on September 7
‘I will most likely be a temporary or permanent guardian for the child. I will do everything for them,’ Oksana said.
‘We thank the gods that the boy has made it through this horror so far — he is the one ray of hope we have in this horrendous situation. Our doctors truly performed a miracle.’
Of the invaders, she said: ‘No matter how many years pass, we will never be able to forgive the Russians for all the Ukrainian children who were killed.’
