A Hobart College student is hospitalized in Kyiv, Ukraine, after suffering serious injuries during last week’s deadly missile assault at a popular pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk.

Cristiano Zeledon, 24, is in Ukraine for the summer on a volunteer humanitarian mission. Now, his bloodied image has gone viral around the world, and for some, could be difficult to view.

His family says Zeledon stopped at the restaurant to eat after working all day. That's when a Russian missile assault struck the Ria Pizza Restaurant.

Some 60 people were wounded and more than a dozen were killed. Cristiano survived but is suffering from severe injuries.

“His head was the worst,” said Zeledon’s sister, Marina LaBaff of Massena.

“The brain trauma and the head trauma, but we also learned that he has bandages and is being treated right now for very bad leg wound burns.”

She says she spoke with her younger brother a few days ago.

“He’s only able to say a few words at a time [and] they’re very jumbled,” LaBaff said. “He has a long road ahead of him.”

After the attack, the family received the call that he was hurt in the blast.

“So as soon as we figured out what happened, we went to the hashtags on Twitter and Instagram and he was basically the poster child of the incident,” LaBaff said. “I don’t think there was anything that could really prepare us for that video of his eyes rolling back in his head and the blood coming from his head and his lifeless body laying on the ground. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see him in that condition.”

The family is from the village of Waddington in St. Lawrence County.

“There’s four of us siblings,” LaBaff said. “Cristiano’s actually the youngest. So this has really hit us all hard because he’s the baby of the family.”

After high school, Zeledon joined the Marines. And after a four-year stint in the military, he decided to attend Hobart where he studies pre-law.

“He’s a senior right now at Hobart,” LaBaff said of her brother. “He’s a fraternity brother there. And he loves to play rugby."

LaBaff says her brother's head injury prevents him from traveling.

“So our job is to try to stabilize him to even be moved and then once he’s stable enough, to try to get him on a plane to bring him back home,” she said.

Zeledon's plan has been to attend law school at Cornell and then potentially re-enlist in the Marines.

“We just pray that he just makes it home, simply, and that he’s able to go to Cornell,” LaBaff said. “That’s going to be a total miracle after this. He’s an amazing kid with the biggest heart I’ve ever met.”

There is an effort to raise funds to help with travel and medical expenses. And the family is asking for prayers.