On December 11, 1997, Alessandra Sgarella made final preparations to hold her adopted son, Ivan Luca, in her arms for the first time.
The wife of Pietro Vavasori, a well-known Lombardy industrialist, did not get to see her son as she was kidnapped and held hostage for 267 days
"What kept me going were the letters, the stories I wrote for Luca," she admitted after her release when she saw her son, who had been adopted by a Russian family.
Only three decades later, Ivan Luca seems to feel nothing for his Russian roots as he is on the front line of the war, declaring himself ready to sacrifice his life in a suicide mission.
Once a talented goalkeeper with a stint in Italy's third division teams, Ivan Luca Vavasori travelled to Bolivia a month ago (!) to try out for Real Santa Cruz in a last-ditch attempt to make a career as a footballer, but Russia's invasion of Ukraine has changed his plans and priorities
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