Little boy severly burned in Russia missile attack dances on

During a visit to see his grandparents with his mother in Ukraine’s central town of Vinnytsia in the summer of 2022, life for eight-year-old Roman Oleksiv changed forever when Russian airstrikes struck the town.  

Roman’s father, Yaroslav, had stayed behind in their western hometown of Lviv. He was at work on 14 July when he saw the distressing news of the attacks in the town where he knew his wife, Halyna, and Roman had a doctor’s appointment that morning. 

“I saw on the media that there had been explosions, that there had been air strikes in Vinnytsia,” he said. “And then I wrote to my wife, but there was no response.”

The missile attacks that struck central Vinnytsia killed a total of 29 people and injured 200. It was one of the deadliest attacks of the full-scale war.

Yaroslav says that Roman recalls his mother telling him to lie down during the missile assault to take cover. Then, “he just opened his eyes and saw that everything was black, everything was on fire,” he said, adding that his son told him: “I thought that I had to get out, because if I stayed, I would die.” 

Roman suffered life-threatening burns over 45% of his body from the attack, as well as shrapnel injuries, and a broken arm. Roman told his father that he remembered seeing his mother’s hair protruding from the rubble before he said goodbye. 

A few days later, DNA tests confirmed Roman’s mother Halyna had died in the attack. For Yaroslav, his son’s survival became the focus of his pain. 

“There were probably about three months that I hardly remember, to be honest, because Roman was in intensive care for a very long time,” he remembers. “We were with him day and night, so we spent the night in the ward. And it was like that for three months. I didn’t even think about anything else, only about Roman’s survival.”

Roman was receiving medical treatment for various infections and it would be more than a month before he regained consciousness. 

“From the first days when he was able to communicate at least a little, he told us about the explosion, what it was like… how the rockets came,” Yaroslav said. “If we didn’t ask him about the 14th of July (attack), he would (ask) in surprise: ‘Why don’t you ask me what it was like?”

Once Roman’s condition was stabilised in a Lviv hospital, he was transferred to a specialist burns unit in Dresden, Germany, where doctors have already performed more than 30 surgeries on him. His father resigned from his job to be at his son’s side, while visits from school friends helped to lift his spirits. 

Before the life-changing events of 14 July, Roman was an active little boy with a strong interest in music and dance and he had competed before in local competitions. But his injuries have not discouraged him from pursuing his passions. 

“Every day he talks about it, that he wants to return to dancing. It’s not just about dancing for people. He has a lot of friends there with whom he communicates, with whom he goes to competitions, and he really likes it,” said Yaroslav. “It was these two desires that kept him from getting discouraged and thinking only of the bad. He had goals during his difficult rehabilitation.”

After receiving regular physical therapy throughout his long recovery, Roman last year resumed dancing and music lessons.  

“After each operation, we start all over again, especially with the hand he uses to play, for example, the accordion,” Yaroslav said. “He has already had two operations on his arm. So, for example, we learned something for three months, played it, and then (he had another) operation. And then you have to stop playing for another three months.”

However, injuries have not stopped Roman from participating in dance competitions and winning them. He wears a special mask for burns to his face which help his scars to heal and in preparation for doctors to perform skin grafts. Two hours of scar care at bedtime has now become routine. 

Yarolslav says his son has matured since the tragic incident and that he hopes Roman doesn’t lose hope as his long recovery continues. 

“It is very important to me not so much what we have come to, but that he continues to be in this mood,” he said. “He has many more years of treatment ahead of him, and he needs to overcome it all.” 

“(Roman) was asked what he dreamed of”, he added, to which his son replied: “I already have everything, I don’t dream of anything. I flew on a plane, I went back to dancing. I play the accordion”. “He says he is happy.”