Ilia’s mother died in the siege of Mariupol and officials in Russia put him up for adoption — until his grandmother traveled into Russia to bring him home.

A claim that President Vladimir Putin 's helicopter faced a combat incident during his visit to the Kursk region was concocted by Russia's authorities, it has been reported. Russia's Defense Ministry said that during Putin's trip to the border region where Kyiv previously staged an incursion, his aircraft came under fire from Ukrainian drones.

The impact of the three-year-old conflict is reaching deeper into the most personal parts of Ukrainians’ lives.