A girl's recovery after a Ural crash that killed her friends
Lisa cannot yet put full weight on her injured leg as she continues her recovery.
In early January, her father carried his daughter into the hospital room in his arms, and the very next day she took her first steps at the Irina Volkova rehabilitation center in Yekaterinburg. We spoke about the tragedy and how Lisa survived the disaster that the whole country discussed, about her recovery and the doctors« prognosis.
Lisa first used a walker and has now learned to walk with crutches, with the next goal being to walk unaided.
The tragic traffic accident happened on October 27, 2025, in Revda. The driver, an active participant in the special military operation (SVO), high on alcohol and drugs, hit three girls. The schoolgirls were standing at an intersection when the Lada «Twelfth» model flew onto the sidewalk. Sisters Kira and Anya died at the scene; they were seven and nine years old. Their friend, fifth-grader Lisa, sustained severe injuries and lay in a coma for a day. Doctors at Yekaterinburg«s Hospital No. 9 saved her, but she couldn»t walk.
This video tells the story of how the girl injured in the traffic accident lives now.
«After being discharged from Hospital No. 9, the doctors told us: she might walk. For us, it was a shock (the fact that Lisa might not get back on her feet and recover the skill of walking — Ed.),» recalls Konstantin, Lisa«s father.
A drunk driver hit and killed the schoolgirls in a horrific accident.
During rehabilitation, Konstantin was with his daughter, having taken sick leave — he is an electrician at a plant in Revda. This time, the mother stayed home with the younger children; they are very little: two and four years old.
When the disaster first happened, Lisa«s mother stayed in the hospital with her for several weeks, while Konstantin stayed home with the younger children. Now they have swapped. Since October 27, the parents» entire life and plans have been focused on one thing — Lisa«s recovery.
After being discharged from the hospital, they bought the girl crutches, but she couldn«t stand up and walk with them.
«In the end, we tried to persuade her for two weeks, but nothing worked,» Konstantin continues to recall. «There was a psychological barrier: uncertainty, fear that it would hurt.»
On January 8, Lisa came for rehabilitation at the Irina Volkova clinic, and just a day later, she took her first steps with the help of a walker.
«Thanks to physical therapy instructor Alexander Vladimirovich Kozlov, he is a true professional,» says Konstantin. «Thanks to him, Lisa started walking.»
Because her leg was in a cast in one position for a long time, Lisa could no longer bend it. In such cases, contractures begin to appear, and if rehabilitation isn«t started in time, the consequences can be severe: with advanced conditions, people are never able to fully extend their limbs again. It»s very good that they started working with Lisa in time: exercise bike, physical therapy, massage, exercises, walking up stairs. Lisa joins the conversation and talks about her progress.
«When we measured at the very beginning, the leg bent at 95 degrees, after a week — 89, then 61, then 41. Now everything is much better. Learning to bend my leg was very difficult for me,» the girl says.
Now Lisa walks by herself, though still with the help of crutches. The bone callus has only just begun to form, and it«s too early to put full weight on the leg, to fully rely on it. But the doctors give good prognoses: Lisa will walk, and when she fully recovers, she»ll be able to dance again.
The girl has been dancing with the «Rainbow» troupe since first grade, performing at festivals in different cities across the country. In the summer, their ensemble won a prize at a festival in Sochi. Friends and classmates have stayed in touch with her all this time, writing and supporting her.
On November 27, Lisa turned 11. Her school celebrated her birthday. Her parents brought her to school in a wheelchair then. Not only teachers and classmates gathered; children from Revda who didn«t even know her came to congratulate her. Lisa will most likely be able to return to school after the spring break, for the last quarter. Although at that very time, the girl faces another operation — removal of the surgical pins (some of these structures for proper bone fusion have already been removed, but not all).
«Right now the main thing is to start walking,» says Konstantin. «I can»t say everything is fine. Who knows how it will all turn out. Lisa also had lung problems from the injury, and a concussion. For now, without false hopes.«
The perpetrator of the accident, Mikhail Slobodyan, is now in a pre-trial detention center, awaiting the end of the investigation and subsequent trial. It is known that he wrote several petitions to have the criminal case dropped and to be sent to the special military operation (SVO), but was refused.
The tragedy caused a huge public outcry. Hundreds of people came out to a spontaneous memorial, and townspeople simply won«t understand if the perpetrator avoids punishment and then returns to the city as if nothing happened.
At the moment of the accident, Slobodyan was a participant in the special military operation (SVO); he was on leave due to a wound at the time. Lisa«s parents saw him on the same day the disaster happened, in the emergency room of the city hospital. They were called from the hospital and told their daughter was in critical condition. They arrived and there met the one who had done this.
«It was immediately clear he was on drugs,» Konstantin says tensely. «Black eyes, they aren»t like that from alcohol. The eyes of a demon. I can«t call him a human being. I hope they don»t allow him to go to the SVO and he serves his sentence. So he doesn«t find this loophole and then walk around schools with medals. Ours is a small town, you can»t hide anything; people told how before this he went to our clinic, shoving his SVO identification card so everyone would let him skip the line, ahead of grandmothers and grandfathers.
I generally believe that for such a crime, a life sentence is fair, and to strip him of his ranks and medals, so he doesn«t disgrace others. He took the lives of two, crippled a third. Lisa isn»t made of iron; she remembers her friends and cries. Fifteen years is nothing. I don«t want to remember... But we will, of course, go to court.»
Konstantin recounts how in the beginning, during the hardest days for them, many people came to their aid: both relatives, and teachers, and strangers. He recalls with gratitude how volunteers, also participants in the SVO, contacted them in the very first days. They organized a fundraiser for the family, and when it was allowed, visited the girl in the hospital, brought games, coloring books, fruit — everything the doctors allowed.
«This crime against our children was committed by an SVO participant, that»s precisely why we were obliged to intervene, to help. There are no such things as other people«s children,» says volunteer Anton Boetsky. «I remember, on the second day, we went to the mom and dad»s home together with our psychologist, understanding that it«s very hard for them now and a psychologist»s help is necessary.«
Anton is himself a participant, a veteran of the SVO, a combat veteran, and an activist of the public organization «Northern Man.» He is convinced that the perpetrator of the crime must not be allowed to leave for the special operation.
«He must be punished, serve the sentence given by the court. Such a person cannot be entrusted with defending the Motherland, carrying out state tasks,» the combat veteran is sure.
The mother of the deceased girls, Svetlana Shipitsina, told how she lives after the tragedy; she is also against the perpetrator leaving for the SVO.
All news about the fatal accident in Revda is collected in a special section.
