UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Jul 17 — On July 16, Kharkiv held a funeral for Andii Kostyria, a 40-year-old rescuer of emergency services who was killed in a Russian double-tap strike on Budy, a village in the southeast of the region.
On July 13, Russia attacked the Budy village with missiles. Rescuers, police, and medics arrived at the impact sites almost immediately. Russians attacked the place with missiles again, killing Andrii Kostyria and a police worker and injuring up to 25 people, including two children.
Kostyria worked as a rescuer from 2005. He started his career as an inspector and eventually became the head of the Kharkiv district’s Department of the State Emergency Service. Andii is survived by his wife and two children, said Yevhen Vasylenko, a spokesman for the main department of the SES in Kharkiv Oblast.
Vasylenko added that Russian attacks during the full-scale invasion killed at least eight rescuers and injured 40 in Kharkiv Oblast. Almost all who died were killed in Russia’s double-tap strikes.
Kharkiv Oblast comes under massive Russian artillery shelling and airstrikes often, even more so since Russia launched a new ground offensive north and northeast of the region in the Vovchansk and Lyptsi directions in May.
Photo credit: On July 16, Kharkiv held a funeral for Andii Kostyria, a 40-year-old rescuer of emergency services who was killed in a Russian double-tap strike on Budy. / Hnat Holyk, Gwara Media
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