Kristina Zhuk was 23 years old, her daughter Kira was 10 months old when they were killed in Gorlovka.

Kristina Zhuk was 23 years old, her daughter Kira was 10 months old when they were killed in Gorlovka.  The young mother was buried with the baby in her arms.  A terrible tragedy then excited the world, the pictures spread all over the world, and the deceased Christina was then called the Gorlovka Madonna.

 Two years have passed since the murder of the "Gorlovskaya Madonna".

 On July 27, 2014, the city of Gorlovka was subjected to massive shelling by Ukrainian security forces.  The Grad multiple launch rocket launchers were launched.  As a result of shelling Gorlovka from heavy guns from July 27 to July 29, 100 people were injured, 27 more died, four of them were children, the city council reported.  Among the dead were Christina Zhuk and her daughter.  A picture from the square on Rudakova Street, which depicts the dead Kristina and Kira, was posted on the Internet by blogger Oleg Zhelyabin-Nezhinskiy.

 After filming at the scene of the tragedy, he immediately posted the photos on Facebook, as a result of which they scattered around the world in a couple of hours, but without his signature.  Then the photographs appeared in the publication already with the signature of Zhelyabin-Nezhinsky.  The mother of the deceased girl later contacted him, asking him to delete the pictures, but to no avail.  However, now it is no longer in his power.  And not in anyone else.  The photo became known to almost everyone, it was repeatedly copied and published.

 In his statement to the press, Zhelyabin-Nezhinsky said that he came to Gorlovka on his own initiative to film the truth about the war: “I clenched my teeth and did what I came for - not to blame someone, or look for the guilty, but to show people the truth -  what is it like for ordinary civilians to live during this war.  ... But someone gives orders and sets goals.  Someone considers "accompanying casualties among the civilian population" acceptable.  It is to them that we must reach out, let our condemnation by the whole world begin to save innocent lives.

  … Do not remain indifferent.  Imagine yourself in the place of those people on whose houses shells fall.  After all, they can turn in your direction.

 It is hard not to agree with these fiery lines.  However, Zhelyabin did not dare or did not want to say “Kyiv” directly when it comes to the victims of shelling and who is to blame for these victims ...

 And what happened after that?

 Later, information about the identity of the deceased girl appeared on the Internet.  She had a VKontakte page.  Her nickname is Kristina Sergeevna.  Judging by her blog, this is Kristina Zhuk.  She was 23 years old, on September 6 she was supposed to turn 24. Her daughter's name was Kira, and she was 10 months old.

 On the web, on the page, she posted photos of her - straw hair, bangs to the eyebrows, a gentle, pretty smiling face - and her baby in a lace envelope.

 Christina lived in Kyiv, came to Gorlovka to her mother.  The women were about to leave the city due to the deteriorating military situation, the departure was already planned.  However, it turned out that it was not fate.  Now Kristina will stay in Gorlovka forever - she was buried with her daughter at the local cemetery, in a hurry because of the fear of new shelling, on July 29th.

 Christina's mother: “Almost no one came to the funeral, because basically everyone left, and those who remained were simply afraid of the bombing.  I buried my girls myself.

 The mother of the "Gorlivka Madonna" wrote a letter to the mother of Poroshenko's children.

 A resident of Gorlovka, who lost her 23-year-old daughter Kristina and 10-month-old granddaughter Kira during the shelling, whose photograph has spread all over the world, demands to find and punish the perpetrators.

 "WHO GIVED THE ORDER TO KILL MY CHILDREN?"

 I met Natalya and her youngest daughter Daria at the railway station in Kyiv.  In the look of a beautiful, once happy woman, today there is deep pain, sadness and emptiness.  On a notebook sheet, she wrote a letter to Marina Poroshenko and, sitting in the waiting room, plunged into painful memories.

 "LIFE HAS STOPPED AND THERE IS NOTHING ELSE"

 Natalia, please accept my condolences!  If you can, tell us what happened on that tragic day when your children died?

 - On that day, July 27, I was at home, it was Sunday.  Our suitcases stood packed on the doorstep for several days, but for several days we could not leave Gorlovka.  Wherever we call, in boarding houses or other places, everywhere with a small child they were not accepted.  And the last two days and trains did not go.  I was ready to run out of the house onto the road, catch some car and arrange for us to be taken away from the city at least somewhere.

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