A mother shared her emotional journey of believing her son had died in combat at the hands of Russia, only to find out three years later that he was still alive.
Nazar Daletskyi, aged 46, went missing during active duty in Donbas in May 2022, shortly after Vladimir Putin initiated the invasion of Ukraine. His mother, Nataliya, 73, received a distressing call from him reporting that their trench was surrounded before all communication abruptly ceased. A mysterious caller later informed her that Nazar had been captured.
This led to a prolonged period of searching through military records, social media platforms, and Facebook groups for any information. After a year, military authorities contacted Nataliya with tragic news – Nazar’s body had been located and identified, and arrangements were made for his return in a body bag, advising against viewing due to the severe condition of the remains, followed by a family burial.
Just as Nataliya was preparing to erect a memorial for her son, she received a call in February revealing that he was alive and returning home as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia. A heartwarming video capturing their reunion showed the overwhelmed mother expressing her relief and gratitude for his unexpected return.
Nazar, dubbed “the Resurrected One” by many Ukrainians, was unaware that his family had believed him to be deceased. His mother’s attempts to comprehend the mistaken identity, pondering if his limbs had been misidentified, added to the surreal nature of the situation.
Following the initial shock and relief, Nataliya questioned the circumstances that led her to believe her son had perished, only to discover similar cases like that of Bogdan Vovk, who was wrongly declared deceased and buried before being found in Russian custody, prompting the exhumation of the misidentified body.
Despite the ordeal, Nataliya has not received an apology from officials and was even asked to refund a portion of the compensation she had received. Issues with overcrowded morgues and outdated identification methods are believed to contribute to misidentifications, leading the Ukrainian government to consider implementing stricter identification protocols for all service members to prevent such errors in the future.
