The 12-year-old boy wanted to play basketball like Michael Jordan. He died in a barrage of rockets as his family fled Russian occupiers.
Updated 2321 GMT April 13, 2022
Lviv, Ukraine — All Vladimir Nesterenko wanted to do when he grew up was to play basketball. The brown haired 12-year-old dribbled and shot hoops with his dad Oleh in the village where they lived in Ukraine's southern Kherson region. He idolized NBA legend Michael Jordan. His mother Julia Nesterenko was happy to encourage the habit."We even had a basketball hoop at home," the 33-year-old told CNN as she described their first family home. It was their"nest," she said, with a small garden and a vegetable patch. When Russian forces captured the regional capital, also called Kherson, and its surrounding area soon after the invasion began, the family knew they could not stay, Julia said.