Ukraine, head of military administration Zaporizhia: “Help me to free my son”

“I ask international organizations, foreign governments, the media, anyone who has the opportunity to speak to Russian delegations to ask for my son’s release. Not a soldier, not a militant, but a student of just 16. An angel among the many pillar children of the world, kidnapped by Moscow and who must be freed “. It is the appeal that Oleg Buryak, head of the military administration of the district of Zaporizhia and father of Vlad, an adolescent prisoner of the Russians for 61 days, launches through the Adnkronos between pauses due to emotion and tears that streak his face, petrified from the pain … Oleg Buryak adds: “A tear must not fall from his eyes, nor from those of his other minor compatriots”. Because Vlad’s story is that of a generous, responsible and protective teenager, an everyday hero who does not wear bulletproof vests, but the shield of the sensibility of someone who is the son of separated parents: “He lived with his mother and little sister. in Melytopol, I in Zaporizhia with two children from second marriage.I tried immediately after the invasion to persuade my ex-wife to leave Melytopol, but she wanted to stay because she did not see the usefulness and to treat her father with cancer. Vlad wanted to do so too, who supported his mother – he recalls – Having access to confidential information, I continued to urge my ex-wife. Finally on April 1st she agreed to leave. I organized the evacuation, but Vlad wanted to stay at Melytopol to assist the dying maternal grandfather and my father, old and in need of assistance “. Oleg Buryak pauses for a long time, then recovers: “A few days after the departure of his mother and sister, who are now refugees in Lugano, Switzerland, his maternal grandfather died at 5.45 am on April 8. Vlad continued to be reluctant. to leave. He did not want to abandon my father. ” At this point the head of the military administration of Zaporizhia imposes himself with his son: “It’s an order. You have to go away. Save your life. I’ll take care of my grandfather.” Vlad gets aboard a coach bound for Zaporizhia with others, including a family of friends. The bus arrived at the Vasylivka checkpoint. A Russian soldier got on board: “He saw my son chatting with his mobile phone, like all boys of his age do. He didn’t like the gesture, he got him off the bus, taken to a cafeteria transformed into a filtering center. , where the surname dates back to me. From that moment Vlad is a hostage of the Russians “. From Buryak’s words we can perceive his desperation for not being an ordinary father and at the same time the faint relief that his son is a” privileged hostage “. Perceptions that tell the insane discrepancy of the war, from which derives the sense of powerlessness of a people. “My last name turned my son into a hostage,” says the Head of Administration. Did he also make the heroic gesture of wanting to look after his grandfather? “These are the values ​​that I passed on to him – he replies to Adnkronos – I’m proud of them. Vlad was divided between two houses, he wanted to stay even though there was no need. When I ordered him to leave, to get on the bus because the grandparents had their life and he didn’t, he told me you have 4 …. But you don’t count the number of children, I replied. Each of you was born in love. My job is to protect all of you as long as I’m alive. You have to go, save your life. I’ll take care of grandpa. “Vlad Buryak is alive. Since he was transferred from Vasylivka to another undefined location, he talks to him every day, because his cell phone has been returned. “A difficult negotiation process is underway. I cannot reveal anything he has seen or heard. Just to say he has his own room, he has not been beaten or psychologically harassed because they consider him a precious hostage. But Vlad is not a He knows nothing. This – he concludes – is a child kidnapping “. Oleg Buryak appealed for the release of his son, among others, to the UN representation in Ukraine; while his mother asked for the mediation of the International Red Cross. (by Roberta Lanzara)