When Yulia Seleznyova walks around her home city in Russia, she scrutinizes everyone passing by in the hope that she will lock eyes with her son Aleksei.
Russian authorities acknowledged dozens of deaths, though pro-Russian military bloggers and Ukrainian authorities estimated that the real number was in the hundreds.
Aleksei was not recognized in the official death toll because not a single fragment of his body was identified in the rubble after the strike.
Ms. Seleznyova was left with nothing to bury, and, she says, no closure.
But it has also left a small shred of hope for a miracle.
Persons:
Yulia Seleznyova, Aleksei, Seleznyova
Organizations:
U.S
Locations:
Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Russian