Tortured. Violated. But not broken.

Butterfly

Journalist [ENA] This is the story of Karina Ershova, 23 years old, from Bucha. She was captured by Russian occupiers around March 10, 2022, during one of the darkest days of the occupation. Her body was later found in a mass grave on the grounds of the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called and All Saints. Investigations revealed what no human being should ever endure: Karina was brutally tortured and then executed with a gunshot to

Her body bore the marks of unimaginable cruelty: almost all of her nails torn off, evidence of her desperate resistance; her hands burned to the bone; a gunshot wound to her leg; and finally, rape — the last act of violence inflicted before death. When Karina’s mother saw the coffin, she tried to open it to hold her daughter one last time. She was stopped: the torture had left wounds too unbearable to witness. The Ershova family had already fled Donetsk in 2014, seeking safety from Russian occupation. Yet cruelty found them again — this time in Bucha, just a few kilometers from Kyiv.

Tortured. Raped. Slaughtered. Such was the fate of many Ukrainian civilians, victims of those who call themselves “soldiers,” yet revealed the darkest and most inhuman face of history. These are not acts of war: they are crimes against humanity, marked by the seal of absolute evil. The memory of Karina, like that of countless other innocent victims, will never be erased. Her young life, cut short, becomes testimony, warning, and condemnation. The world must not forget. Those who inflicted such torture will be held accountable — if not before men, then before History and Eternity.