Disease war, begs Vladimir Putin to stop the carnage before more orphans and mothers lose their children.
The bloody Russian-speaking woman who became the iconic image of the wretched war in Ukraine blamed Vladimir Putin for the carnage. Brave Olena Kurilo (right, and inside), 52, is pictured outside her frozen home (both, left) in an image that sums up the horrors of a conflict in which thousands of people is now dead.
She was almost one of them, when the Russians attacked a military base near her home in Chuhuev, Ukraine – and attacked her compound. In an exclusive interview, she told how she still had vitreous in her skin and eyes, and feared for her eyesight because of the lack of medical help. But the half-Russian mother-of-one, a kindergarten teacher, tells how she almost got killed – and begs Putin to stop the war and send his troops home. Two years ago, Olena nearly died when a military plane crashed and threw rocks from her apartment, killing 26. She said:
A photo of Ukrainian teacher Olena Kurilo bloodied and bandaged after surviving a Russian missile strike, captured by @anadoluagency photo-journalist Wolfgang Schwan, became a symbol in the world media of the attack on her country. pic.twitter.com/0iS5FQxur9
— Serdar Karagöz (@serdarkaragoz) February 25, 2022
‘After Putin issued a statement recognizing the LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] and the DPR [Donetsk People’s Republic], we have been carefully monitoring the situation. We think some common sense is still there to negotiate. We never thought there would be war. ‘
