'Dad please don't die': Harrowing video shows Ukrainian son pleading as Russians shoot father
The heartbreaking video of a Ukrainian son begging for his father's life has left the world shocked, while Russian forces continue to unleash violence across the country. The footage shows a middle-aged father and his adult son facing bullet rounds from Russian tanks, while they were fleeing home with their three dogs. The father, who has been identified as Oleh Bulavenko, eventually succumbed to his injuries as he lay in a pool of blood in the middle of the road.
The shocking video emerged barely hours after Russian President Putin justified his war crimes in Ukraine by dubbing the Ukrainians as "gangsters". He also falsely claimed that Ukrainian leaders were using civilians as "human shields" against Russian troops. Meanwhile, there had been reports of Russian forces indiscriminately bombing towns, cities, schools, and homes, while shooting unarmed civilians trying to flee the borders. It is believed that Oleh Bulavenko and his son were also trying to escape from their hometown near the capital city of Kyiv.
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In the Kiev region, Russian invaders killed the father of his son. Ivankov region.
— Frutik Stand With Ukraine (@Frutik_) February 28, 2022
I'm literally crying right now. Because i imagined that it could be me.
After he crowded to his father he says: "Dad, my lovely dad, don't move, don't die I beg you" pic.twitter.com/zhLSiBSIzV
The video was recorded by Bulavenko's son on his phone when they were inside their car. The duo was trying to rescue their three dogs when they encountered a Russian military convoy and were forced to pull over on the side of the road.
While the son was asking the father to reverse the car, bullets can be seen tearing into the vehicle, prompting both of them to get out of the car.
"Get out and lie down. Can you hear me? Get back and duck to the right," Bulavenko's son shouts at him while trying to find a safe hiding spot for himself. Meanwhile, the troops continue to fire more rounds into the car as the dogs whimpered in fear and pain in the background.
The son jumps out of the passenger side of the car and lies low in the undergrowth for a few seconds while shouting at his father in anguish. However, he soon finds him lying on the road in a pool of blood while trying desperately to get up.
The son can be heard yelling, "Dad! Dad! Are you still there? Hang in there!"
"Dad, f***! Why?" he exclaims, while his father informed him that his foot was torn off. As the shooting slows down, the son manages to drag his father into the undergrowth on the side of the road. All the while, he can be heard begging for his father to "not die". "Please don't die, I'm begging you," Bulavenko's son says in the heart-wrenching video.
However, Bulavenko eventually dies from his injuries and loss of blood, while two of their dogs were also killed in the horrifying attack. It was later revealed by Radio Free Europe that the family had escaped their home in Ivankivon on Friday but later returned to get their dogs.