Mum whose legs were blown off 'by Russian landmine' weds boyfriend
A bride has told how she wed her longtime boyfriend just a month after her legs were blown off by a "Russian landmine" near the frontline in eastern Ukraine.
A video shows mum-of-two Oksana Balandina, embracing groom Victor Vasilyev, both 23, as they dance after their nuptials this week in her Lviv hospital ward.
Oksana, a Ukrainian nurse, lost both legs and four fingers when she took a shortcut along a "familiar" footpath on a desperate expedition in Lysychansk to collect humanitarian aid to feed her hungry family.
"I walked a little ahead and saw a projectile sticking out of the ground," Oksana said, explaining how her legs were torn off.
"Victor walked behind, chatting with a friend. I turned to tell them about my find — and immediately flew into the air."
Victor was unscathed but "frightened", the mum said.
"He ran up to me and started to bandage my bleeding limbs. The ambulance arrived quickly, but the paramedics refused to take me away to hospital."
They feared more mines and wanted rescuers to help them, she said.
The nurse fell unconscious as she begged for oxygen and eventually reached the hospital after suffering severe blood loss.
Mum awakes to find her legs gone
"On the morning of March 28, having slept and rested from the surgery, I saw I had no legs," she said.
"The doctors had to amputate them at the upper third of the thigh. And I only have my thumb on my left hand."
Oksana said upon realising what had happened, she "screamed and asked to be killed".
"I did not want to live, I did not want the children to see me with a disability. But thanks to the support of relatives, friends and strangers, I got a second wind," she said.
She accepted Victor’s proposal, and insisted: "Now I will live for my family".
They have a daughter Diana, five, and she has a son, Ilya, seven.
Bride posts videos on TikTok to encourage others
She was sent first to Lysychansk for rehabilitation before being moved to Lviv. She is set to travel to Germany for further rehabilitation and fitting of prosthetic limbs.
The mum-of-two has posted about her rehabilitation on TikTok to encourage others.
"My videos are an answer to everyone who knows me that everything is fine with me. And a way to teach them to perceive it," she said.
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Her husband told her: "We are strong, we can do it.
"If God left you alive, then it is meant to be."
The Ukrainian parliament has praised the couple's "very special love story" as they work to overcome the horrors of war.
East2West/Australscope
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