Family of Ukrainian teen, 14, injured in deadly Russian strike begs Trump to help them live ‘under a peaceful sky'
Nataliia Makhno and her daughter Anastasiia were walking home from the grocery store in Sumy on Monday when the sudden roar of drones and explosions sent them scrambling for cover at a nearby house — a terrifying routine that has become all too familiar in recent months.
'Fear is a present all the time, but we do not have a choice,' Nataliia told The Post.
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5 Nataliia Makhno and her daughter Anastasiia were walking home from the grocery store when they were hurt in Monday's drone blast in Sumy.
Obtained by the NY Post
'War has come to us, and we live and try to survive in this situation. We are ordinary people, and we had just come from the store. It was an ordinary day.'
But their ordinary day spiraled into horror when the explosion hit, leaving Anastasiia's body riddled with shrapnel wounds and suffering from severe blast trauma.
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She was rushed to Sumy Regional Children's Hospital, where the shrapnel was removed, and her condition has since improved. The youngster — an award-winning modern dancer — is receiving inpatient care and will now be forced to put her passion on hold until she recovers, her devastated mother said.
Nataliia, who suffered blast trauma and an inner ear injury from the deafening boom, said drone attacks have become a 'constant' in recent months.
'Living here is scary, but sadly, we have become used to it,' the wounded mother said.
5 A burned-out building after a drone strike in Sumy, Ukraine.
Obtained by the NY Post
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'People live and work. Children study online and at school. All while being in danger.'
Nataliia previously lived with her family in Myrophilla — a village along the Russian border that was decimated when the country launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 — until her husband, a serviceman stationed in the Sumy region, relocated them to a larger city in the hopes of keeping them safe.
'Everyone left because there were heavy shelling, and Russians destroyed a lot of buildings,' the scared mom said, noting her daughter's school was also leveled.
'We have a marvelous school there, and they destroyed it, as well. So many people had to evacuate.'
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5 Nataliia Makhno and her 14-year-old daughter Anastasiia were injured in a Russian drone attack in Sumy, Ukraine.
Obtained by the NY Post
But the brutal strikes have only escalated since the family uprooted their lives — a grim reality Nataliia has also faced as a nurse treating injured victims of attacks similar to the one that left her 'very stressed and frightened' daughter hospitalized.
'We all hoped that there would be help and peace would come quickly, but for some reasons unknown to us, it does not come,' she said.
'Most of us are waiting for a miracle to happen, and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will stop shooting. We hope for it every second. We pray to God and ask that we have a peaceful sky, and we could just live as we lived before. This is war, a totally incomprehensible war.'
5 Anastasiia, an award-winning modern dancer, will have to put her passions on hold as she recovers.
Obtained by the NY Post
Russia launched its attack on the devastated country overnight Monday after Trump announced the US will send 'billions of dollars' worth of weapons to Ukraine and threatened to impose 'secondary tariffs' on Moscow's business partners if a peace agreement isn't reached in 50 days.
Five were killed and at least 43 injured, including four children, in attacks across Ukraine, local media reported.
Shattered Nataliia is now begging Trump to act swiftly and help end the nightmare they've endured throughout the 40-month-long war.
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5 New York Post front page: 'Breaking Vlad,' Trump will provide more arms to Ukraine, gives Putin a 50-day deadline.
'I would like to ask very much that he help us so that peace comes to our Ukraine and that we can live as before when we were not afraid and our children lived under a peaceful sky,' Nataliia said.
'He can help us to cope with such a terrible misfortune that has come to us so that we can be here, live, rejoice, marry, have children and wait for grandchildren.
'Our children should be able to live calmly, grow, live quietly, work and be happy.'
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