War correspondent rescues four-year-old girl during Russian attack on Kyiv Oblast
Marian Kushnir, a war correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has rescued a four-year-old girl during a Russian attack on Kyiv Oblast. He sprang into action as a drone struck his apartment building, grabbed his tactical backpack and headed to the upper floor, where a fire had started.
Source: hromadske, a Ukrainian public broadcaster
Details: Russia attacked Kyiv Oblast on the night of 27-28 January. A Shahed drone struck an apartment building in the village of Bilohorodka. Residents initially thought it was a gas explosion, as they did not hear the sound of a drone approaching their block.
One of the residents of the building is war correspondent Marian Kushnir. As soon as he heard the explosion, he took his tactical backpack and rushed to help.
The drone strike set the upper part of the building on fire, with flames breaking out on the sixth floor and spreading over an area of around 600 sq m. Kushnir ran upstairs and found the door of one apartment ajar. Inside, he saw a young girl calling for her mother. He pulled the girl out, handed her to neighbours and returned to the apartment to try to rescue the adults – the girl's mother and her partner, who were on the upper level of the flat.
"I tried to go down to the higher level, but everything was already burning too fiercely. Neighbours ran in with fire extinguishers and tried to put it out, but it didn't work," Kushnir said.
Unfortunately, the girl's mother and her partner were killed. The child was later handed over to her biological father.
"I am not a hero – I was simply in that place and did what I had to do. The real heroes are soldiers, first responders, medics and many others who save us every day from Russia's killing of Ukrainians," Kushnir wrote, also calling for financial support for the girl who lost her mother.
Other residents of the building were also affected by the drone strike: a woman and two children suffered acute stress reactions, while one man was taken to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning. Their condition is currently described as satisfactory.
The rescue operation has been completed. A total of 45 rescue workers and 11 units of equipment were involved.
Background: On 26 January, Oleksandr Zibrov, a Ukrainian first responder, died in hospital from injuries sustained in a Russian attack on Kyiv on 9 January.
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