Liliia Prutian Reunited With Her Youngest Son After Three Years of Separation During the Ukrainian War
Liliia Prutian, a former military medic for the Aidar Battalion, reunited with her youngest son, Dima, in late February 2025 after three years of separation caused by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Prutian served in the Ukrainian army, where she was captured by Russian forces and held as a prisoner of which she was accused of terrorism. While her youngest son, Dima, was left alone in their hometown of Blyzhnie, which was occupied by Russian forces, and her middle son joined the Russian army, her oldest son served in the Ukrainian military. Prutian was eventually released in a prisoner swap and moved to a rehabilitation center near Kyiv. To reunite with her mother, Dima traveled 1,740 miles through Russia, Belarus, and Poland to reach Kyiv. The family remains divided by the war, as her middle son remains in the Russian army, while Prutian and Dima now live in Dnipro with her oldest son. Prutian continues to work for the Ukrainian army in a desk job.