"They were simply left in midst of attack": Kyiv woman describes condition of her children who were not let into shelter with their dog – photo
A school security guard denied a brother and sister access to a shelter in Kyiv on 14 December because they had a dog with them. As the terrified children rushed to find another safe place, a Russian missile was shot down just above them.
The police have now opened a criminal investigation into "leaving (the children) in danger" (Article 135.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), reports Dmytro Hryshchenko, a spokesman for the National Police of Ukraine in the city of Kyiv.
Ukrainska Pravda.Zhyttia (Life) talked to the children’s mother, Liubov Ovchynnikova. She described how her children, Oleksandra, 11, and Bohdan, 12, are doing now.
"We’ve been at the police station today, and a psychologist talked to the children. The investigator told me the headteacher would not be held responsible for the incident, as he wasn’t there at the time and hadn’t instructed the security guard not to let the children in with their dog. The only person likely to be held responsible is the security guard. The police told me they would sort it out; they’ve initiated criminal proceedings," says Liubov.
Liubov added that on the day of the incident, the children had no idea that they would not be allowed into the shelter with their pet, as they had been there with their dog before: "We’d already been to this shelter at school once before at night, and no one said anything to us."
Liubov said of her children: "They are doing well, they’re holding up well," despite the considerable stress they have been under. When the children were refused entry to the school bomb shelter, they ran to another one located three minutes away from their school. The explosion occurred before they could reach the shelter. They covered their heads and crouched down in fright, and Oleksandra started crying.
"My children are very resilient as they have experienced the huge trauma of losing their father. Their behaviour is restrained and they usually bottle things up. They don't have tantrums. The only thing is that when my daughter is nervous, she gets severe headaches. She had a terrible headache in the evening after the incident. She also becomes nervous after experiencing stress, she gets irritated by everything and wants to be alone and not talk to anyone. This behaviour lasts for two days after the stress. She has to work through it herself," Liubov went on.
Liubov added that since the incident, the family no longer want to seek shelter in the school.
"Today, when there was an air raid, we went to another bomb shelter. As a matter of fact, it was me who told the children to go to the school shelter that day because I’d gone to work, and I knew there would be teachers there, so the children would be supervised. Whereas in the other bomb shelter that we went to today, there's often nobody around. Just out of humanity, they could have let my children in with the dog and told them to come without him next time. [As a result] they were just denied entry with no warning – left outside in the middle of an attack," Liubov said.
The children’s father, Yurii Ovchynnikov, actually visited this school when the full-scale invasion started to sign up as a military volunteer. Yurii gave his life fighting the Russian invaders in Zaporizhzhia Oblast as part of the Azov Special Forces unit.
On 1 June, three people were killed in Kyiv, including a 9-year-old child, when they were refused entry to the shelter of a medical facility in the Desnianskyi district.
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