Family of fallen Butusin brothers - Heroes of Ukraine, is still waiting for apartment from state: "We are not alone"
In December 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the provision of apartments for all soldiers who have been awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. The same applies to the relatives of fallen defenders-Heroes.
"We are launching a new special initiative for all the Heroes of Ukraine - there have been 360 of them since the beginning of the full-scale war. Every soldier and the family of a soldier who has been posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine will receive an apartment from the state. Not over the years, not sometime later, but now. ...And in the near future, the state will provide apartments for all Heroes of Ukraine. All of them. Including those who fought before February 24 - for the period from 2014, the fighting guys. It's fair," the Head of State said.
However, not all families have received housing. As of October 2024, the Butusin family, who lost two sons, Roman and Leonid, in the battles against the occupiers, is still waiting for certificates.
The Heroes' mother, Tetiana, said that in February 2024, the President's Office called and said that the families of the Heroes of Ukraine would be provided with a housing certificate.
"The local Kalush TCR collected the documents and sent them to Kyiv. They called and asked if we would come to the ceremony and told us to wait, and that was all. That was the end of it. Then there was silence, the TCR knew nothing. No one could give an answer. Since March of this year, I have started corresponding with all government agencies that are involved in this," she said.
In December 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the launch of an initiative for all Heroes of Ukraine.
"Every soldier and the family of a soldier who is posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine will receive an apartment from the state. Not over the years, not sometime later, but now," the head of state said at the time.
"I called the hotline of the President's Office repeatedly. The President's Office replied that they did not distribute these certificates, they were not aware of it. Although Zelenskyy gave them personally. The President's Office sent such requests to the Defense Ministry," Butusina said.
The Ministry of Defense replied that the Central Directorate of Engineering and Infrastructure Support had sent the documents for the Apartment Management Unit from Ivano-Frankivsk. Then, in August, the Defense Ministry replied that they had addressed all this to the Office of the President.
"They chased me around, and eventually we came to the State Management of Affairs. There they wrote to me that provision of one-time targeted assistance in the form of housing is provided by the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where they served. My boys served in the Ministry of Defense. And it turns out that they just chased me around in circles for 8 months. But yesterday I got a call from the Ministry of Defense and was told that they would invite me to get the keys to the apartment. But I've already been called once, they just deceived me, so I can't say that the issue is resolved," said the mother of two Heroes of Ukraine.
The woman said that if she had not filed a complaint or written anywhere, everyone would have forgotten about her.
"We have forgotten who these guys were, that they died for Ukraine. I understand that I am not alone. It's not about me. There are families, especially mothers, who are depressed and that's it. No one will run around in circles. Why this attitude towards the families of the deceased? Our family lost two sons. Many families are still depressed, and not everyone can communicate with these authorities, write to them. Many do not know because they are from the countryside, some are ashamed, some do not know how. So these families remain in oblivion," she summarized.
Update: On October 18, 2024, it became known that Volodymyr Zelenskyy handed over certificates for apartments to the Heroes of Ukraine and relatives of servicemen who were posthumously awarded this title.
It is known that the Butusin family also received a certificate for housing.
What is known about the Butusin family
Oleh Butusin is originally from Vladivostok but moved to Ukraine with his wife and children in 2014. The family now lives in Kalush district in the Prykarpattia. He took part in the war with Russia as a member of the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps in battles near Donetsk. His older sons Roman and Leonid signed a contract with the AFU in 2020. The soldiers fought in the Joint Forces Operation zone and also defended Ukraine from the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian military.
Roman and Leonid died on 9 March 2022 in the village of Lukashivka, Chernihiv region. After the village was liberated from the Russian occupiers, their bodies were found by their father, who, along with 18-year-old Hryhorii, was defending the Kyiv region as part of the Right Sector.
A soldier with the call sign Viking from the 16th Separate Motorized Infantry Battalion spoke about the Butusin brothers' feat in an interview with Censor.NET Editor-in-Chief Yurii Butusov.
The father of the fallen Heroes of Ukraine, Oleh Butusin, said in an interview that he had hoped to find his sons alive until the last moment.
Censor.NET published a chronology of the battle for the last road to Chernihiv in the village of Lukashivka.
On March 9, having amassed about 2-2.5 battalion tactical groups north of the regional center, the Russians attacked the village of Lukashivka with an armored column of more than three dozen tanks from three directions.
About 10 kilometers separated them from the only free road connecting Chernihiv with Kyiv. They were confronted by about 150 Ukrainian soldiers, who were armed with only 2 broken tanks, limited anti-tank weapons and small arms.
Among them were two ethnic Russian brothers, Roman and Leonid Butusin, who did not retreat and continued to defend to the last. Within a few hours, with the help of artillery, they were able to inflict huge losses on the enemy. Despite the fact that the village was occupied, this battle became a turning point, the Russian troops were unable to continue the offensive and were soon forced to retreat.
Bohdan Rusinko, Censor. NET.
