Eugine Obedinsky, the ex-captain of the Ukrainian National Water Polo Team, was killed on March 17 in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in what was initially reported as a bombing.
Obedinsky, 39, left behind his daughter, 12-year-old Kira Obedinsky, who became a orphan after her father’s death. Her mother died two weeks after she was born.
A report in early April indicated that Alexander Obedinsky, Eugine’s father and Kira’s grandfather, was ready to take over custody of her, but all contact between the two was lost for up two weeks after Eugine’s death.
In a report from The Guardian on April 7, Kira was walking with a group of family and neighbors when they came across a minefield, where she was injured and subsequently taken by Russian soldiers to a hospital. She was able to contact Alexander from a hospital in Russian-occupied Donetsk, and the two were finally reunited earlier this week, as documented in a Facebook post by the Water Polo Federation of Ukraine on Facebook.
The Guardian report also says that Eugine was shot by a Russian sniper, rather than the initial reports of a bombing.
Aleksandr Osadchuk, a former Ukrainian water polo player who is now the High Performance Manager of water polo at the Queensland Academy of Sport, is working to provide an opportunity for Kira to come stay with him and his family in Australia.
UPDATE
Kira also recently met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. You can watch a clip of them meeting here.
