A soldier who lost his family in Israel shared details of the tragedy.
Ukrainian serviceman Artem Burik, serving in the 95th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the Sumy Front, survived a terrible tragedy. As a result of an Iranian missile strike on Bat Yam, he lost his 7-year-old daughter Nastya, his 30-year-old wife Maria Peshkurova. As well as her mother Elena Sokolova and two of the daughter's cousins – 10-year-old Kostya Tutyevich and 14-year-old Ilya Peshkurova. The family left Odessa for Israel in December 2022, seeking refuge from the war and hoping for treatment for Nastya's leukemia.
Vesti writes about this.
“I can't comprehend it. I spoke to Nastya a few hours before she died. She told me that she saw missiles being shot down over the house and was scared,” said 39-year-old Artem.
The bodies of Maria, Nastya and the two boys were found quickly, while the grandmother was found only four days after the house collapsed. Artem notes with horror: “The family fled the war in Ukraine and was killed in Israel.”
Fight for life and moving to Israel
Little Nastya fought acute lymphoblastic leukemia. After five months of treatment in Odessa, the family looked for opportunities for a bone marrow transplant abroad. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers and foundations, they managed to raise the necessary funds in Israel.
Artem, like his father-in-law, could not come to Israel, since Ukraine has a ban on men under 60 leaving the country. He gave his consent for the cremation of his wife and daughter's bodies and their transportation to Ukraine.
“Firstly, it will make it easier for them to return home, and secondly, I won’t be able to see the mutilated bodies of my relatives found under the rubble,” he explained.
Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky said that the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel is dealing with the return of the dead. Artem's commanders promised to give him leave to resolve funeral issues and overcome the terrible loss.
Let us recall that on the night of June 14, an Iranian missile attack on Israel took the lives of five Ukrainians who found their deaths under the rubble of a residential building in the city of Bat Yam near Tel Aviv. This terrible tragedy cut short the lives of a family from Odessa who came to Israel with one goal – to fight for the life of 7-year-old Nastya Burik, who was sick with cancer.
