Kyrylo Ilyashenko, 13, who helped people escape a burning bus during a Russian attack in Sumy on 13 April, has won a silver medal at the European Beach Wrestling Championships in Poreč, Croatia, acting mayor of Sumy, Artem Kobzar, said on 30 May.

The event brought together youth, cadet, and junior athletes. Another boy from Sumy, Yaroslav Shoshura, won bronze.

Kyrylo competed just weeks after undergoing surgery for injuries he received in the April attack. His mother, Maryna Ilyashenko, told Suspilne that he started training again shortly after the operation.

“At first, he only did light exercises, stretching, and breathing recovery,” she said.

His father and coach, Oleksii Ilyashenko, prepared a special training plan.

“Given his condition, the physical load increased gradually,” Maryna Ilyashenko said. “In Croatia, Kyrylo stepped onto the sand — not as a war victim, but as a real wrestler. And he took the silver medal.”

Sumy Oblast Governor Oleh Hryhorov called him “the pride of Sumy region.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded the 13-year-old teen a new state honor — the “Future of Ukraine” badge, according to the regional administration.

On April 13, Kirill was traveling on a bus in Sumy with his mother when a missile hit the area. The bus caught fire. Its doors were stuck. Kyrylo managed to escape and helped others get out. Among those he helped were relatives of his classmates. Doctors later found three pieces of shrapnel in his head.

Most people on the bus died, including the driver. The vehicle became known as the “bus of death.”

That day, 35 people died in Sumy. Two of them were children. Another 120 were injured.