Kharkiv journalist came under Russian double-tap attack on April 4

KHARKIV, UKRAINE — A Russian double-tap drone strike on Kharkiv on April 4 hit near Victor Pichuhin, a journalist for a Nakypilo media group. Four people died in this strike, including three first responders. Gwara Media asked Victor to tell us about the attack.

Victor says he heard the first explosions in the city during the night. 20 minutes later, he arrived at the hit site, a three-story residential building in Kharkiv. Rescuers were already there, putting out the fire on the roof and surveying locals. 

Pichuhin was documenting the damage the Russian drones did to the building and filmed the work of volunteers who provided people with first aid. He notes that, at the time, there were no severely injured people. 

“At one moment, I heard the shout, “Air!” The medics ordered, “Get in the car!” I ran to their evacuation car, took the backseat. The last medic got in through the back. At this moment, we heard Shahed accelerate, the way it does when it flies down [to the target]. I realized that it moves right towards us. After the medic closed the trunk, the drone exploded. Blast wave threw us all over the car’s interior,” Victor recalls.

After that, Pichuhin and the medics got out of the car and checked each other for injuries. Doctors then went to provide aid to civilians. 

Victor now has to go through a medical checkup to see if he has post-concussion syndrome. 

In a Russian drone attack on April 4, at least 15 Shahed drones were launched at the city. Air Defense downed some of them, but not all — because of Kharkiv’s proximity to the Russian border, as military reports. After rescuers arrived to help the injured and put out the fire on the hit site, Russia “completed” the double-tap.  

Read our photo story from the hit site of a Russian drone attack on Kharkiv on April 4: “A few centimeters closer, and my parents would be dead.”