A Ukrainian Refugee Plays Pretend With Her Daughter During A Very Real War
MIAMI (CBSNews) – "Life is Beautiful," the 1999 Academy Award-winning film about a father turning the horrors of the Holocaust into a game, has become a form of art imitating life for some young children traumatized by the war in Ukraine, the most innocent of all the victims.
"I'm telling her, we will just travel for a while and see the world and we will come back home," mom Viktoriya Kovolova explained to her 2-½-year-old daughter Sophia.
The two playing their own game of pretend after they left Ukraine with only each other and a change of clothes. Kovolova was too afraid to tell CBS4 where they are now, other than to say they're safe with a friend in Europe.
"My husband is a pilot. And every time she sees a plane in the sky, she says, 'Oh, this is my daddy. He's going to pick me up.' And I'm telling her, 'OK, he will,'" said a tearful Kovolova, explaining the painful conversation between she and her young daughter.
Dad, Artom, a commercial pilot in Ukraine, and the rest of Sophia's family were unable to escape the reality of war, only communicating virtually now via their cellphones.
"The most difficult thing when we have a video chat, and she kisses her father, and when we stop, she says let's go back I want to kiss my daddy and kiss my grandparents. It's just heartbreaking."
Viktoriya trying her best to be like Roberto Begnini's character in "Life is Beautiful," but we all know life is a lot messier than the movies.
"I felt broken and I started crying in front of her and she was confused and she didn't know what to do and she asked, "Mommy, what's going on? What's going on?'"
A question with no good answer right now, as mom Viktoriya gets peppered with even more questions from her puzzled, perplexed and precious little girl.
"When we were on our way here, my daughter asked me, 'Where is our daddy? I want to come back. When are we going to come back to Kyiv? I want to play with my toys and the dogs of my grandma and grandpa.'"
Mom Viktoriya, despite the horror of war, is hopeful for that Hollywood ending.
"If there's no hope, there's no life. I always hope for better. I'm a religious person and I believe everything will be over soon."