Current:Home > StocksNew film honors "angel" who saved over 200 lives during Russian occupation of Bucha -FutureWise Finance
New film honors "angel" who saved over 200 lives during Russian occupation of Bucha
View
Date:2025-04-14 02:41:57
The city of Bucha became synonymous with massacre after Russia's army killed more than 1,000 civilians in the city during a one-month occupation after capturing the region in the first weeks of the war in Ukraine.
Amid the horror, one man's heroism saved hundreds. As the war rages on, his heroism is being memorialized with a film.
Konstantin Gudauskas has been called an angel of salvation. Thanks to a random stroke of luck, Gudauskas was a citizen of Kazakhstan who had been granted political asylum in Ukraine years ago. That meant that he kept his freedom of movement, even during the war.
He used that good fortune and freedom to drive 203 Ukrainians out of Russian-occupied territory.
The film shows his travails, which included navigating Russian checkpoints and witnessing atrocities while delivering people from evil.
"For me it was hell," Gudauskas said. "I saw a lot of death. There were times I'd come to evacuate a family and they would be dead. I would scream to God: 'Why did you send me here? If my life is needed, I have to save lives.'"
Gudauskas said he buried more than 70 bodies himself, but is thankful he saved more, including famed Ukrainian composer Ihor Poklad and his wife, Svetlana Poklad. The couple hid in their cellar for two weeks as Russian troops passed outside.
"We didn't have any water, no lights, no gas, but we adapted. The only thing that was hard to adapt to were the shellings, the missiles," said Svetlana Poklad.
When Gudauskas arrived, Svetlana Poklad said she felt "unreal happiness."
"I called him an angel," she said. "He's an angel to everyone he saved."
Gudauskas' has now celebrated holidays and birthdays that might have been impossible without his bravery, forging a family with those he rescued. One pregnant woman he saved even named her son after him.
"I have no children of my own," Gudauskas said. "But I have got a lot of children that I gained during the war."
- In:
- Bucha
- Ukraine
- Russia
Ramy Inocencio is a foreign correspondent for CBS News based in London and previously served as Asia correspondent based in Beijing.
TwitterveryGood! (951)
Related
- The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
- Italy expands controversial program to take mafia children from their families before they become criminals
- Truth Social’s stock price is soaring. It’s not just Trump supporters buying in.
- BlackRock CEO said 'retirement crisis' needs to be addressed for younger generations losing hope
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- Video shows 'Cop City' activists chain themselves to top of 250-foot crane at Atlanta site
- Authorizing sports betting in Georgia may lack needed votes from lawmakers
- In a first, shuttered nuclear plant set to resume energy production in Michigan
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Logan Lerman Details How He Pulled Off Proposal to Fiancée Ana Corrigan
Ranking
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Earth is spinning faster than it used to. Clocks might have to skip a second to keep up.
- Glen Taylor announces that Timberwolves are no longer for sale. Deal with A-Rod, Lore not completed
- ‘My dad, he needed help': Woman says her dead father deserved more from Nevada police
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Potential Changes to Alternate-Fuel Standards Could Hike Gas Prices in California. Critics See a ‘Regressive Tax’ on Low-Income Communities
- 2024 NFL mock draft: Four QBs go in top four picks thanks to projected trade
- US changes how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity. It’s the first revision in 27 years
Recommendation
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
As Powerball nears $1 billion, could these winning numbers help step up your lottery game?
Iowa's Patrick McCaffery, son of Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery, enters transfer portal
Potential Changes to Alternate-Fuel Standards Could Hike Gas Prices in California. Critics See a ‘Regressive Tax’ on Low-Income Communities
All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
'Shirley': Who plays Shirley Chisholm and other politicians in popular new Netflix film?
Kim Kardashian lawsuit: Judd Foundation claims Skkn by Kim founder promoted 'knockoff' tables
How to get rid of eye bags, according to dermatologists