"My building has been damaged for the sixth time": what is known about aftermath of overnight large-scale Russian attack on Kyiv – photos
Homes belonging to artists and media professionals, along with the office of the human rights organisation La Strada-Ukraine, were damaged in Kyiv as a result of Russia's attack on the night of 1-2 July. Animals were also injured at Kyiv Zoo and buildings there sustained damage.
Source: UP.Zhyttia
Details: The home of filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk and servicemember and writer Artem Chekh was damaged for the sixth time in the attack on 2 July.
Tsilyk said none of her relatives was injured on the night of 1-2 July. Her son took shelter there, and her husband joined him later. She herself was at their summer house.
Iryna learned about the large-scale attack on the capital at 05:00 when, despite connection problems, she received a message from a neighbour in Kyiv: "Ira, tell me you're not here."
"A chip or shrapnel flew into my son's room, piercing the window frame. It hit a scooter – the broken handle smashed a piece of the floor – then a cabinet and flew further on, crossed the entire living room, pierced the first two panes of the double-glazed window and fell between the second and third panes [...]
The trajectory of a single fragment can be completely incomprehensible. My building was damaged again last night, for the sixth time already. Things are even worse for our neighbours again; some had only just installed new windows, and they were blown out again, cars were damaged and so on. There is no longer much room to hope that lightning does not strike the same place twice," Tsilyk wrote.
The building where the Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko lives was also damaged. Russian forces struck a neighbouring block, and several end windows in Zabuzhko's building were blown out by the blast wave.
During the attack, a missile struck the courtyard of the building where Vadym Miskyi, programme director at Ukrainian media outlet Detector Media and a member of the Supervisory Board of Suspilne, Ukraine's national public broadcaster, lives. He said he was not injured, nor were the neighbours he managed to speak to.
"Some people had their doors blown out, so everything inside was swept away by the blast wave. Fortunately, my door was not blown out, so the damage inside is not that severe. The windows were blown out, and the flat is covered with shards of glass and broken belongings.
But overall, the structure of the building itself seems to have remained intact. I have not yet seen any flooding, but it is clear that it will be impossible to live there for some time because the condition is unsafe. We still need to find out whether cracks have appeared in the foundation. We will be checking that," Miskyi said.
Journalist Olha Musafirova said the explosion near the five-storey building was so powerful that it shook the Nyvky metro station, where plaster fell from the ceiling.
"At around 06:00, I walked the familiar stretch from Gymnasium No. 73, now with its windows blown out, to that very building. The roof covering was torn away, exposing the roof structure, and the windows were blown out. The strike landed about 20 metres away. The crater is huge. I am afraid to think how many people were injured here alone," Olha said.
A married couple – Ukrainian journalist and cultural manager Iryna Plekhova and a film director and screenwriter Oleh Chornyi – lost their home in the Russian attack. During the night, while the attack on the capital was still ongoing, Chornyi was helping a neighbour out of the burning building.
"Our building is on fire. We got out again. The attack is still going on. I don't know how to describe the state I'm in. It's no longer fear, no longer confusion, we can't do anything," Iryna wrote on Facebook the night of 1-2 July.
She later posted photos of their burnt-out home. The ceiling, walls, floor and furniture were damaged, and the doors and windows were blown out. The couple lost all their creative work and personal belongings.
"No archives, no paintings, no icons, no books, no discs survived... Nothing..." Iryna added.
In a comment to Detector Media, Plekhova said she and her husband were in the flat at the time of the attack. After the strike, the couple managed to save a suitcase with documents and help two elderly neighbours get out of the building.
"We haven't been injured. Some things hurt, but nothing serious. Psychologically, we are still not really ourselves," she admitted.
Ukraine's Education Minister Oksen Lisovyi said kindergartens and schools in several districts of Kyiv sustained damage. The office of the Ukrainian State Centre for International Education, which handles the recruitment and support of foreign students, was also seriously damaged.
Institutions of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, including the Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, were damaged in the attack. None of the staff were injured.
"Roofs, cars, research laboratories and scientific equipment were on fire, and windows were blown out [...] We are assessing the damage and bow deeply to Ukraine's defence forces for preventing an even worse scenario," the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine said.
Animals and buildings at Kyiv Zoological Park of National Significance were also affected by the attack. Turtles and crocodiles were injured by blast waves and were immediately treated, Kyiv City State Administration said.
"Buildings of the primate and bird department, the dome of the winter garden, the aquaterrarium, the hay storage facility, the northern entrance area and exotic plants in the winter garden on the territory of Kyiv Zoo were damaged.
The northern entrance area and car park are temporarily closed. Entry to the zoo is only through the main entrance. The rest of the territory is operating as normal," the city authorities reported.
The office of La Strada-Ukraine, a human rights non-governmental organisation that works to prevent gender-based violence and protect children's rights, was also damaged in the capital.
"The blast wave from the nearest strike blew out windows and damaged all office premises, including the space used by the national hotline for children and young people. Part of the office equipment and computer hardware was also destroyed.
Most importantly, all our consultants are alive and unhurt. Staff were in a shelter at the time of the attack," the organisation said.
Despite the significant damage, all La Strada-Ukraine national hotlines continue to operate in full.
Background:
- Russia launched a massive combined attack on Ukraine using attack drones as well as air-, land- and sea-launched missiles of various types on the night of 1-2 July.
- Kyiv was hit hardest, with damage and destruction recorded at more than 30 locations across all districts. In the Darnytskyi district, Russian forces destroyed part of a nine-storey building.
- Eighteen people were killed and 86 were injured in a Russian strike on the city of Kyiv on the night of 1-2 July. Those injured include a 10-year-old boy whose parents have not yet been found under the rubble.
- Emergency workers are bringing people out from under the ruins of buildings. Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing.
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