A mother shared her emotional journey of mourning her son after being informed that he had died in combat by Russia, only to eventually discover three years later that he was still alive.
Nazar Daletskyi, aged 46, disappeared in action while stationed on the front lines in Donbas in May 2022, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated his invasion of Ukraine. His mother, Nataliya, aged 73, received a final call from him reporting that their trench was surrounded before communication abruptly ceased. Subsequently, an unknown caller informed her that Nazar had been captured.
This triggered months of painstaking searches through military records, social media platforms, and Facebook groups for any trace of Nazar. However, a year later, military authorities delivered heart-wrenching news to Nataliya.
They informed her that Nazar’s body had been located and identified, with plans to return it to her in a body bag. Due to the severe condition of his remains, she was advised against viewing him, and he was eventually laid to rest in a family burial.
Nataliya was on the brink of erecting a memorial stone when, in February, she received another phone call revealing the astonishing truth that her son was alive and set to return home as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia.
In a touching video capturing their reunion after three long years, the mother expressed, “My God, how I’ve yearned for you, my precious child! Throughout that time, I’ve been praying for a miracle, and it has been granted.”
It was soon revealed that Nazar, hailed as “the Resurrected One” among Ukrainians, was unaware of his family’s belief in his demise. During a conversation, his mother asked if he had lost any limbs, leaving him puzzled. Nataliya explained her confusion, sharing her initial assumption that a body part might have been misidentified.
Following the initial relief, Nataliya began to question why she had been informed of her son’s death, discovering she was not alone in such a predicament. In a similar case, 34-year-old Bogdan Vovk was mistakenly declared deceased and buried in Humenets, only to be later discovered in Russian custody, leading to the exhumation of the erroneously identified body.
Despite the ordeal, Nataliya has yet to receive an apology. Instead, officials demanded the return of the 15 million hryvnia (£250,000) compensation she had received, some of which had already been used for the £3,000 memorial.
The misidentification of bodies is attributed to issues such as overcrowded mortuaries and outdated testing facilities. The Ukrainian government is advocating for mandatory dental X-rays and fingerprinting for all military personnel upon enlistment to ensure accurate post-mortem identification.
