Mother Of 12 Kids Dies Fighting Russian Troops In Ukraine Russia War

A Ukrainian mom with 12 kids was among the heroes who lost their lives in recent days fighting against invading Russian forces. Olga Semidyanova was fatally injured on March 3, during a fierce gun battle in the city near Donetsk in the southern region of war-torn Ukraine.

According to The Sun, the 48-year-old mom sustained a fatal gunshot wound to her stomach, and reportedly, her body has not yet been recovered due to continuous heavy fighting in the area. Sources from the battlefield said the fearless mom held her ground and continued to engage in battle even after much of her unit had been killed on the border of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.

An adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, Anton Gerashchenko, said, “She was slain in a confrontation with Russian thugs.”

Semidyanova was a combat medic who carried the honorary title of “Mother Heroine”, served in the Ukrainian military forces since 2014. The title is bestowed to women who have given birth and raised more than 5 children. She had six children and adopted six more from a local orphanage. As her family waits in distraught for her body to be retrieved and returned home, tributes have begun to pour in after the news of her death broke the media, with the Ukrainian government praising her selfless act of fighting for the country.

“Even when she believed her regiment might not survive, she emphasized her desire to protect the country until the end. She is a national hero,” Gerashchenko added.

Meanwhile, Semidyanova’s grief-stricken family awaits her remains with broken hearts.“'She saved the soldiers to the last. We have photos from the place of death — but due to heavy fighting we still can't bury my mother'," her daughter, Julia, told reporters.

Two men were also hailed as heroes on Wednesday after they were killed by a cruise missile attack on Sunday at a military base used by NATO, about 12 miles from the Polish border. Roman Rak and Mykola Mykytiuk were laid to rest with the women in their lives and their families weeping over their coffins. The two men were said to be in their 40s and 50s, with their fellow soldiers who were of the same age and older mourning their deaths.

“These guys were like angels for us,” said a local deacon, Taras Hlova. “They died protecting us”. Hlova recalled being woken up by the blast saying he had seen the missile glowing in the sky. “I thought they'd be crazy to attack so close to NATO countries,” the deacon said.

Hlova and his wife, who is a nurse, had spent the next day treating the wounded victims. At least 35 people were reported to have lost their lives over the weekend.