Rescue operation after Russian bomb attack on Kharkiv is over. Attack killed 3, including 2 children, injured 36 (photos)

UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Oct 31 — In the evening of October 30, Russia hit Kharkiv’s Saltivka district with a glide bomb, hitting a residential 9-story building and almost completely destroying one of its entrances. 

The attack killed three people, including two children aged 15 and 11, and injured 36 people. Rescue operation continued until 5:27 p.m. today. 

Gwara Media has been at the impact site during the night and in the morning, to document the aftermath of this Russian strike. 

Rescue working in the aftermath of Russian glide bomb attack on residential building in Kharkiv on October 30, 2024 / Photo: Ivan Samoilov, Gwara Media

Preliminary reports show Russia hit the residential apartment building in Saltivskyi district of the city with a modified FAB-500 bomb. / Photo: Ivan Samoilov, Gwara Media

Search and rescue operation at the impact site of Russian attack on the residential building in Kharkiv on October 30, 2024 / Photo: Serhii Prokopenko, Gwara Media

During the night of October 31, information about an 11-year-old boy who died after the attack was reported. He was sleeping in the room that became an epicenter of the Russian glide bomb explosion. He died while doctors were trying to save him. 

At about 1:00 p.m. on October 31, rescuers pulled off the first person from under the debris: a killed man looked like he was 25-30 years old, reported the head of Kharkiv Prosecutor’s Office Dmytro Chubenko. Authorities didn’t have the information about this man being missing, so he said the man’s identity was still established. 

Rescuers deblocking the body of a person killed in the Russian glide bomb attack on Kharkiv on October 30. October 31, 2024 / Photo: Oleksandr Manchenko, Gwara Media

Rescuers deblocking the body of people killed in the Russian glide bomb attack on Kharkiv on October 30. October 31, 2024 / Photo: Oleksandr Manchenko, Gwara Media

Then, at 2:10 p.m., rescuers pulled the body of a 15-year-old boy from under the debris. They were looking for him for half of a day. Chubenko said the child’s relatives identified him on the impact site.

Ruslan Vragov, the main doctor in one of Kharkiv’s hospitals, reported that the person with the most severe injuries is a woman of 37 years. 

“She has injuries to the stomach, chest, damage to lungs, and traumatic brain injury. She’s currently in the intensive care department, we’re treating her and continue to examine her injuries at the same time. Her life’s threatened, but we’re working,” he said. 

Yard in front of a residential apartment building in Kharkiv, targeted by Russian glide bomb attack on October 30 / Photo: Oleksandr Manchenko, Gwara Media

Residents of a residential apartment building in Kharkiv that was targeted by Russian glide bomb attack on October 30, 2024 / Photo: Oleksandr Manchenko, Gwara Media

Rescuers worked through the night and most of the day at the impact site. “There’s probably a threat of the [fall of the debris], but rescuers are managing the situation,” Yevhen Vasylenko, a spokesperson for the State Emergency Service (SES) in Kharkiv Oblast, said. 

Announcing the end of the rescue operation, Kharkiv, SES wrote that rescuers from Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Ivano-Frankivsk SES teams were involved in the operations. They are still sorting out the debris of the residential building. 

Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office opened a pre-trial investigation into the Russian attack for violating laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder.

Cover photo: Rescue workers in the morning after the Russian attack on the residential building in Kharkiv on October 30. / Oleksandr Manchenko, Gwara Media