Details emerge of Kyiv family devastated by Russian overnight strike, with father and daughter dead
Russian forces launched a large-scale drone attack on Kyiv on the night of 22-23 March, leaving dozens injured and three dead across the capital.
Source: Ukrainska Pravda.Zhyttia
Details: Five-year-old Nikol and her father, Oleksandr Haranskyi, both of whom lived in Kyiv's Holosiivskyi district, were killed. Oleksandr's wife, Oleksandra, is the family's only survivor and is currently hospitalised with injuries.
Diana Dudchenko, the family's acquaintance, told Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttia that the couple had relocated to Kyiv from Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, following the beginning of the full-scale war. The Haranskyi family attended a church in the capital, where they met Diana.
Diana adds that the family lived in a little house on the church grounds that was completely destroyed by the drone attack.
"Oleksandra sings with me in the church group, so we were in close contact. They sent their child to the same kindergarten as my son, so we often gave them rides," Dudchenko said.
According to Diana, Oleksandra worked at the church kindergarten before starting her own business, baking sweets to order. Her husband took on various part-time jobs.
Oleksandra was also actively involved in her church, organising meetings for teenagers several times a week.
Dudchenko describes the Haranskyi family as friendly and kind-hearted people who, despite losing everything in their native Orikhiv, continued to help others.
"They helped a lot, were kind and positive. In the winter, Oleksandra organised a project to collect and deliver gifts for children to the frontline regions," she added.
Diana also shared a video of five-year-old Nikol doing one of her favourite things – modelling with clay – on 19 March. The very next day, she met the little girl at kindergarten, where the children had organised a special celebration for their mothers.
"Nikol was a very good girl, smart and clever. She was friends with my children, she loved to wear dresses, she even had a dress with lights like a princess. She also loved to draw and model with clay.
She was a joyful girl. She went to the older group in kindergarten and was supposed to go to first grade in September," Diana shared her memories.
During the Russian attack on Kyiv, the Haranskyi family was staying together in a house on the church grounds. According to Dudchenko, Nikol and Oleksandr were killed immediately after the strike hit their home.
"Oleksandra was thrown twenty metres away from the house and lay there for three hours until a local electrician found her," the family friend added.
She is currently in the intensive care unit of a Kyiv hospital. Dudchenko is raising funds to help with Oleksandra's treatment.
"The mum [Oleksandra] has regained consciousness, the prognosis is good," Diana added.
The Russian attack on the Dniprovskyi district also killed an 80-year-old woman whose flat burned to the ground, as reported by the Kyiv24 media outlet.
A neighbour of the deceased Kyiv resident said that she herself was not at home at the time of the fire. However, she noted that the 80-year-old woman could not be reached by emergency workers in time due to cars being tightly parked near the house.
Famous Ukrainian theatre and film actor Andrii Isaienko, who lives in the same house with his wife, director and producer Olesia Morhunets-Isaienko, said that they were not injured in the attack. He also called for support for a collection to help their neighbours in need.
Earlier, Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttia reported on the deaths caused by the Russian attack on Poltava in early February.
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