By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

LVIV (Ukraine) – Oksana Balandina, a newlywed, and Viktor Vasyliv, a western Ukrainian couple, shared their first dance as husband and wife in a Lviv hospital ward.

He lifted his wife into his arms, and then turned her over between hospital beds. She wrapped one arm around him neck and held onto a bandaged hand.

After Balandina had lost both of her legs to a landmine on March 27, Balandina was left with no choice but to walk home from Lysychansk (Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk) following a rough month.

He was the only one I managed to speak to. [Vasyliv]: ‘Honey, look!Balandina recalled what happened as she said “Honey, look!”

When the mine exploded, he looked at my face. With my face to the ground, I fell. My head made an excruciating sound. After that, I turned my head and began to take off all the clothes on me. Balandina said that she thought it would make breathing easier because the air was too thin.

Vasyliv, the man walking behind Vasyliv was not hurt.

I didn’t know how to cope with the shock. He stated, “I could see her not moving.”

“If not for Oksana I don’t know what would happen. She’s so strong. She didn’t fall. He said that Oksana coordinated all our actions.”

Balandina spent the past month in different hospitals across the country. The doctors were forced to amputate her right leg and her four left fingers.

She stated that many of those days were spent in dark places.

“I did not want to live… I didn’t want to live such life, I have two children. They shouldn’t see me this way. Balandina stated that she did not wish to be considered a burden in her family’s lives.

Thanks to you, I was able to accept it. “I need to live. But it is not the end. It is my destiny if God leaves me alive.

She and her two sons, a seven-year old boy and a five-year-old sister, have been placed in safety with grandparents in central Ukraine’s Poltava.

The couple celebrated their marriage in hospital. They plan to fly to Germany to have Balandina’s prosthetic legs fitted and rehabilitation.

Balandina admits that she cannot see the end of the road and is not optimistic about peace in Ukraine. However, Balandina insists that her focus must be on now and her recovery.

“I wish to return home to Lysychansk. However, honestly speaking, my concern is for the safety of my children. Many things will happen after the war ends. The road was mined… It is scary,” she said.

Russia says its troops do not kill civilians or target them in “special operations,” which Moscow refers to as an attempt to arm the country and defend it against fascists.

Vasyliv stated that he is grateful for every day he spends with his wife.

I was scared to lose her. It was hard for me to let go of my tears. It was shocking. He said, “It was frightening to lose the one I love.”