Ukrainian nurse who lost both legs in landmine blast, dances with husband on wedding day; heartwarming video goes viral

A newlywed couple shared their first dance as man and wife in a hospital. The video of the heartwarming moment, which appeared online and soon went viral, shows groom Viktor Vasyliv holding his beautiful wife Oksana Balandina in both his arms as the two dance inside a hospital room in western Ukraine's Lviv.

The video left many emotional as Balandina never thought she'd ever share such a moment with her husband or even find her will to live after the incident in which she lost both her legs and four fingers on her left hand.

In the video, now gone viral, Vasyliv twirls Balandina before the two, visibly emotional, share a kiss.



The 23-year-old was walking home in Lysychansk in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, currently occupied by Russia, along with her husband on March 27 when she stepped on a landmine.

At that moment, Balandina, a professional nurse, only managed to shout her husband's name.

"Honey, look!", she said, according to a report in Reuters.

While Balandina sustained serious injurious, Vasyliv, who was walking behind her, was unhurt. When the landmine went off, Vasyliv saw Balandina on the ground, not moving. "When it happened, I gave up in despair, I did not know what to do. I saw her not moving," he said.

Though Balandina miraculously survived the blast, she spent the last month being treated in several hospitals and had to lose both her legs and four fingers in the end. This push the 23-year-old, who has two children -- a 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter -- found herself slipping in a dark place.

"I did not want to live… I didn't want to live such life, I have two children. I didn't want them to see me like this. I did not want to be a burden for anyone in my family," Balandina said from the hospital.

But she received support from people close to her and realised this was not the end of the life she has.

"I need to keep living. It is not the end of the life. If God left me alive, that's my destiny," she said.

After the wedding, the couple will be travelling to Germany where the 23-year-old will receive further treatment and get prosthetic legs. She will undergo rehabilitation.