UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Oct. 22 — At around 10:48 a.m., Russian troops hit the Kholodnohirskyi district of Kharkiv with three kamikaze drones, targeting the private kindergarten in the historic neighbourhood of the city. The latest reports from the authorities say the attack killed one, a 40-year-old municipal worker who was cleaning the street, and injured nine people.
Gwara Media’s journalists have been to the impact site to document the consequences of the Russian attack and follow the work of emergency workers who were putting out the fires. The second floor of the building was completely destroyed.
Kharkiv prosecutor Amil Omarov told Gwara that, according to preliminary investigation, Russia hit the kindergarten with Geran-2 drones, powered by a jet engine. The speed of these drones is over 350 kilometers (~155 miles) per hour.
According to local officials, there were 48 children in the kindergarten at time of the attack, all of whom had been evacuated quickly in the aftermath. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that, because this is a private kindergarten, the city council didn’t have any documentation in regards to its operations during full-scale war.
Olena Shapoval, an executive director of Kharkiv IT cluster said the attack damaged the space of the Resilient Business Hub. The windows there have been blown out and some equipment destroyed, but the workers were uninjured because they’ve managed to get into shelter.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the attack, “There’s no and can’t be any justification for a drone strike on a kindergarten. It’s obvious that Russia gets bolder. These attacks are Russia spitting into the faces of everyone who insists on a peaceful solution.”
Overnight on Oct. 22, Russia also launched a combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine, killing 6 people and injuring at least 44 people across the country.
Cover photo: Emergency worker goes to the second floor of kindergarten in Kharkiv, severely damaged by three Russian kamikaze drones / Photo: Gwara Media, Mykyta Kuznetsov
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