Reference :
V-P-UA-E-00538
Date :
16/07/2016
Caption :
Ilovaisk. The ICRC helps families find relatives. Oksana, (left), whose husband Andrey is missing, poses with her two children and Anna, Andrey's sister, on the football field where he used to play with boys.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
ICRC website article, 05.10.2016: "Ukraine crisis: Uncertainty on both sides of the contact line. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and grandparents of the missing on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine cope as best they can with an impossible, wholly intolerable situation.
Waiting to discover what has happened to their relatives means living in limbo, denied the chance to mourn or a reason to stop hoping against hope. This uncertainty has a severe emotional, social and economic impact on the loved ones of the missing. [...] These are their stories.
Andrey and Oksana were high-school sweethearts. Their first son was born on the second anniversary of their marriage. Soon after that, a second arrived.
"Andrey was 5 years older than me. He was 39 when he went missing," says Oksana. "He was driving a car when I last heard from him." Together with Andrey's sister and her husband, Oksana tried looked everywhere she could think of to find information.
In the meantime, Andrey's family is being supported by his sister and her husband. The children know that their father has disappeared. Nothing is kept hidden from them. The older son is a talented footballer who often wins medals. He knows that his father will be happy with him for doing so well at football when he comes back. The younger son does not really remember his father. The child is still at kindergarten, and likes to draw. His drawings of the family are ready for his father's return.
Oksana and her two young sons have no information about Andrey's whereabouts. They have the right to know.
The photograph is part of the ICRC exhibition "Uncertainty".
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
5760x3840
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
