Tears of joy and heartbreak,
less than 24 hours apart: This is the emotional toll that Russia’s war on
Ukraine is inflicting on the families of those called up to fight.
Natasha, the daughter of
Ukrainian special forces commander Ruslan Pustovoit, was recorded weeping
with happiness on Saturday night as her father was allowed to return home for
the first time since Russia began its invasion almost five months ago.
But, the following afternoon,
the little girl was crying tears of sadness instead as she accompanied Ruslan
to the train station to wave goodbye to him as he was sent back to the
frontlines.
Mother Tatanya captured both
moments on video, posting them on social media to show the world the cruel toll
the war is inflicting.
The first footage shows
Natasha, dressed in her pyjamas, waiting by the front door late at night as her
father arrives in his uniform – AK rifle slung over his shoulder.
She runs out into the corridor
to give him a hug, as he lifts her into the air and carries her across the
threshold.
An image taken just moments
later shows her standing on the floor, arms wrapped tight around her father’s
head, tears clearly visible in her eyes as he buries his face into her
shoulder.
Writing alongside that video,
Tatanya said Natasha was ‘shocked and surprised’ to see her father at their
house in Odesa – where they were forced to relocate from their native Mariupol
as Russian troops razed it to the ground.
‘She prayed every day, because
the last meeting was in Mariupol on February 24,’ Tatanya wrote – giving the
date that Russia’s invasion began.
A second piece of footage
captured the following day shows Ruslan embracing Natasha in the back of a car,
as she sits crumpled into her father’s lap.
