More and more children, mothers, and fathers are dying in the war in Ukraine, as Russia intensifies its attacks on civilian targets following the West’s increasingly bold statements about continuing support for Ukraine. In recent days, the Kremlin has struck not only Kyiv, Kharkiv, and central Dnipro in broad daylight, but also many small villages and towns in the east of the country.
Not just numbers – the victims have names
Two days ago in Kyiv, a 12-year-old girl, Oleksandra, was killed in a bombing. She was in the 7th grade. A 50-year-old hairdresser, Ilona, died of fright in one of the capital’s shelters. A few days earlier, a pregnant woman wounded in shelling in early September died in hospital. Thanks to life support in intensive care and later a C-section, her baby was saved – but the mother was not. In the same attack in which she was injured, another woman and her young child were killed.
There are tragedies the world often never hears about, as attention usually focuses on Russia’s large, high-profile attacks. Yesterday, in the small village of Chernechchyna, Krasnopillia district, Sumy region, just 15 kilometers from the Russian border, a drone killed the four-member Lesnichenko family: 35-year-old father Oleksandr, his two sons aged 4 and 6 – Denys and Ihor – and 26-year-old mother Alona, who was pregnant with twins.
The family had moved to Chernechchyna from the town of Krasnopillia, where their home was damaged by shelling. They settled in an old family house in the village. This was reported by the portal Kordon.Media, citing the village head, Oksana Chernova.
At the local school – Chernechchyna Gymnasium – photos of the deceased brothers and condolences were published.
According to reports, the drone struck the building around 2:40 a.m. All that remained was a pile of bricks, a partial wall, and part of the fence. Children’s clothes still hung on lines in the yard.
Cities and villages are attacked every day. The frontline stretches 1,000 kilometers
On the 30th of September, Russian forces shelled Sumy region 54 times – hitting 23 settlements across 12 communities. Guided aerial bombs and attack drones fell on towns and villages. In the past 24 hours, air raid alerts in Sumy region lasted more than 17 hours.
This is the symbolic beginning of a long, 1,000-kilometer frontline that stretches from northern Ukraine all the way to the far south, running through the Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions to Odesa.
In Kherson, 800 kilometers from Sumy, residents move through the streets only under anti-drone nets, as Russians target random passersby and drop small mines that resemble leaves. This is what daily life looks like here.
In yesterday’s drone attack on Dnipro, 20 residential buildings, a hospital, and a school were hit. Several people were hospitalized. Air raid sirens sounded throughout the night in different parts of the country.
Read too: “Can Russia be civilized? ‘An entire generation is responsible for the terror in Ukraine’ [OPINION]”
