"This is the sixth time my building's been damaged": the aftermath of Russia's massive overnight attack on Kyiv – photos
Russia's attack on Kyiv on the night of 1-2 July damaged homes belonging to well-known artists and media professionals, as well as the office of the human rights organisation La Strada-Ukraine. At Kyiv Zoo, animals were injured and buildings damaged.
Source: UP.Zhyttia
Details: The home of filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk and writer and serviceman Artem Chekh was damaged for the sixth time in the 1-2 July attack.
Tsilyk said none of her family members was injured on the night of 1-2 July. Her son took shelter there, and her husband joined him later. Tsilyk herself was at their dacha.
She learned about the massive 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 piece of shrapnel flew into my son's room, piercing the window frame," Tsilyk wrote. "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.
Last night was the sixth time my building's been damaged. Things are even worse for our neighbours – some of them had only just had new windows put in and they've been blown out again, some of them have had their cars damaged and so on. There's no longer much room to hope that lightning doesn't strike the same place twice."
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 lives. Miskyi, who is the programme director at Ukrainian media outlet Detector Media and sits on the supervisory board of Suspilne, Ukraine's national public broadcaster, said he was not injured and neither were the neighbours he had managed to speak to.
"Some people had their doors blown out, and everything inside was swept away by the blast wave. My door wasn't blown out, fortunately, so the damage inside is not that severe," Miskyi said. "The windows were blown out, and the apartment is covered with shards of glass and broken things.
But overall, the structure of the building itself seems to have remained intact. I haven't seen any flooding yet, but it's clear that it won't be possible 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."
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 has been torn away, exposing the roof structure, and the windows have been 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," Musafirova said.
Iryna Plekhova, a Ukrainian journalist and cultural manager, and her husband, 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 helped 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," Plekhova 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 have lost all their creative work and personal belongings.
"Nothing survived – no archives, no paintings, no icons, no books, no CDs... Nothing..." Plekhova added.
In a comment to Detector Media, Plekhova said she and her husband were in the apartment at the time of the attack. After the strike, the couple managed to save a suitcase containing their documents and help two elderly neighbours get out of the building.
"We weren't injured. A few places 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 admissions and support for international students, was also seriously damaged.
Some institutions of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, including the Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, were damaged in the attack. No staff were injured.
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine said: "Roofs, cars, research laboratories and scientific equipment were on fire, and windows were blown out [...] We are assessing the damage, and we bow deeply to Ukraine's defence forces for preventing an even worse scenario."
Animals and buildings at Kyiv Zoo were also affected by the attack. Turtles and crocodiles were injured by blast waves and were immediately treated, Kyiv City State Administration said.
"Damage has been caused to buildings in 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 at Kyiv Zoo," the city authorities reported.
"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 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 the office premises, including the space used by the national hotline for children and young people. Some of the office equipment and computer hardware was also destroyed.
Most importantly, all our advisors are alive and unhurt. Staff were in a shelter at the time of the attack," the organisation said.
Despite the significant damage caused, all La Strada-Ukraine national hotlines continue to operate as normal.
Background:
- On the night of 1-2 July, Russia launched a massive combined attack on Ukraine using attack drones as well as air-, land- and sea-launched missiles of various types.
- 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.
- Twenty-one people were killed and 86 were injured in the attack. One of those injured is 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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