Accessibility links

Breaking News

Alone In A War-Torn Village, Ukrainian Man Buried His Wife And Walked To Safety


Hennadiy Shchipakin and his wife were the last remaining residents of Kalynove
Hennadiy Shchipakin and his wife were the last remaining residents of Kalynove

Humanitarian workers in Ukraine’s Donetsk region continue risking their lives to evacuate civilians trapped near the front lines.

Among them is Yevhen Tkachov, head of the Proliska Humanitarian Mission, who recently rescued an elderly man left alone after his wife was killed.

“We'll try to evacuate an old grandfather, who has frequent memory loss due to the war and concussion,” Tkachov told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service while driving through a drone-active combat zone.

The evacuee, Hennadiy Shchipakin, had lived in Kalynove with his wife. While others fled, they chose to stay -- until tragedy struck.

“A few days ago, his wife was blown up and died,” Tkachov said.

Shchipakin walked alone to the village of Zorya after burying her.

“On the outskirts of the village, there was a tripwire. My wife went around it, but a dog tripped it,” he explained. “She died after a couple of days. The wounds were small. It was either an infection or shock. I buried her somehow.”

A Ukrainian Man Buried His Dead Wife In A Shed, Then Walked To Safety
please wait

No media source currently available

0:00 0:02:18 0:00

With her gone, he became Kalynove’s last remaining resident.

“The village is ruined. On Podolskiy Street, a long street on the hill, everything was leveled. There's nothing,” he said.

In Zorya, Nataliya, a former neighbor, awaited him.

“We were friends. They were like parents to us,” she said, recalling how isolated the couple had been. “There was no phone connection, no one at all. He buried her in a shed. When the war ends, they will bury her properly.”

Shchipakin is now being taken by ambulance to Kyiv to reunite with his son, whom he has not spoken to in months due to communication blackouts. Their brief phone call was their first in a long time.

“Good, good. Let’s meet. We’ll figure it out,” his son told him.

For Shchipakin, the war has taken everything -- but he is no longer alone.

  • 16x9 Image

    RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service

    RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has seen its audience grow significantly since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 and is among the most cited media outlets in the country. Its bold, in-depth reporting from the front lines has won many accolades and awards. Its comprehensive coverage also includes award-winning reporting by the Donbas.Realities and Crimea.Realities projects and the Schemes investigative unit.

  • 16x9 Image

    Donbas.Realities

    Donbas.Realities is a regional news outlet of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.

  • 16x9 Image

    Serhiy Horbatenko

    Serhiy Horbatenko has worked for RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service since 2015 and was awarded by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with an Order of Merit for his coverage of Russia's invasion. He previously worked as a journalist for Public Television of the Donbas; as a regional representative for the commissioner for human rights of the Ukrainian parliament in the Donetsk region; and as an editor at the TV channels TOR and C + (Slovyansk). He is a graduate of Donbas State Pedagogical University.

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.

XS
SM
MD
LG