One year after photographs of her bloody face and bandaged head became the first symbols of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Olena Kurylo recalls the devastating events of February 24, 2022. A teacher at the time, now a refugee in Poland , dreams of home.
The first missile hit a runway at a military base located 500 meters from his home in Chuguiv, near Kharkiv, in north-eastern Ukraine. The second demolished his apartment: "I was on the sofa when I heard a loud noise and saw the window break against the wall. Then the pieces hit me
Outside, she was attended to by doctors, who removed a large shard of glass from her head. Near her, a child lay dead and her father wept, a scene she will never forget.
Later she saw a trio of photographers arrive, including AFP's Aris Messinis: "They took a picture of me and I didn't care. I didn't think about anything. Then I thanked God for still being alive." The next day, her face had appeared in "all the newspapers in the world, they were the first images to become a kind of symbol of the war," explains her daughter.
Russian propaganda was quick to attack her, claiming that she did not exist, that she was a soldier or an actress, that her injuries had been caused by a gas explosion, that her blood was actually grenade juice. Kurylo arrived in Poland a few weeks later for medical treatment: "I had a piece of dirty glass in my eye and a piece of my retina was missing, which is also wrinkled now." To add insult to injury, Kurylo's partner abandoned her while she was still in the hospital, claiming that she did not want to take responsibility for her.
"It happens that my photo was the first as a kind of symbol of this war in Ukraine. It is, of course, a very heavy load. I understand when women or people win beauty contests, when everyone knows them, it is a good fame. But this kind of popularity is actually a very heavy burden."
