A Russian drone strike destroyed a Ukrainian brick home overnight, killing a dad and his three small children — and leaving his pregnant wife with traumatic brain injury, officials said.
The blast from the Russian-made Shahed suicide drone killed 34-year-old Hryhorii Shykula, his 2-year-old twin boys and 1-year-old daughter in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region overnight, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
Shykula’s wife Olha, who is 35 weeks pregnant, was pulled out of the burning rubble by rescue workers, officials said.
A Ukrainian family’s home was struck by a Russian suicide drone, killing the dad and three toddlers. AP
Olha Shykula looks at the rubble of her destroyed home after being treated in a hospital. Global Images Ukraine via Getty ImagesShe suffered serious injuries from the blast, including brain trauma, burns and hearing loss, the prosecutor’s office added.
“We lost what is most precious — our future,” Bohodukhiv mayor Volodymyr Bielyi wrote on Facebook.
“There are no words to console the family; there is no prayer that could heal the heart of a mother who has lost her children,” he added.
“We will endure. We will remember. We will never forgive this horror on our land.”
Ukrainian first responders rushed to try and pull the family out of the burning rubble of their destroyed Bohodukhiv home. AP
The ashen remains of one of the children’s teddy bears was found in the rubble. STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT/EPA/ShutterstockBielyi said the wounded mother was treated at a local hospital, with the mayor announcing three days of mourning over the tragedy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the attack as yet further evidence that Moscow cannot be trusted to secure a peace deal while it blatantly attacks civilians.
Each such Russian strike undermines trust in everything being done through diplomacy to end this war, and again and again proves that only strong pressure on Russia and clear security guarantees for Ukraine are the real key to stopping the killings,” Zelensky said on social media.
The attack on the family’s home was just one of an overnight barrage that saw Russia fire 129 drones. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images“As long as Russia continues to kill people and destroy our infrastructure, there will not be sufficient public trust even in active diplomacy,” he added.
The Russian drone that killed the family in Bohodukhiv was just one of 129 long-range drones fired at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Meanwhile, Ukraine fired its own counterattack on Wednesday, with a drone hitting a Russian industrial plant and sparking a fire in the city of Volgograd, local officials said.
With Post wires
