UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Jun. 19-20 — On Jun. 19, Russian forces attacked Kharkiv with a glide bomb for the first time since April, killing one person and injuring nine others, including three children, according to Ihor Terekhov, the city’s mayor.
The bomb destroyed a warehouse and an uninhabited house in the city’s Kholodnohirskyi district. Authorities found human remains at the impact site, Terekhov said, without specifying whether they were recovered from the warehouse or the house. The blast also damaged about 40 homes in the surrounding neighborhood.
Liudmyla, who lives near the impact site, said the explosion felt so powerful that it seemed as though her house had lifted into the air and then dropped down. Her home escaped major damage, but the blast shattered windows and broke tiles in the hallway.
“But that’s nothing compared to our neighbors. They were left without a home,” Liudmila said, recalling Lena, another local. Lena was injured when the roof of her house collapsed on her during the attack.
Tetiana also lives in the neighborhood. She showed Gwara’s journalists the damage to her home. Municipal workers had already boarded up her windows, but the roof was severely damaged, with a large hole torn through it. Tetiana said the house was no longer fit for repair and would likely have to be demolished.
Alla, a resident of Kharkiv’s Kholodnohirskyi district, told Gwara that her cat, Tayson, and her dog, Liolia, were at home when the explosion occurred. She said the dog suffered an acute stress reaction after the attack.
“Usually, I don’t keep her on a leash, but people asked me to do so to make sure she wouldn’t run off,” Alla said.
The next day, on Jun. 20, a Russian glide bomb hit a two-story apartment building, again in Kharkiv’s Kholodnohirskyi district, very close to the previous site of attack. Mayor Terekhov said emergency service workers found the body of a person killed in the Russian attack. Five other people were injured.
Anzhela, a resident of the damaged building, was home alone when the bomb hit. She said to Gwara’s journalists that, fortunately, her husband was at work and her daughter was away at a children’s summer camp.
During the attack, she took shelter in a corner between two walls, which helped her avoid serious injuries. She suffered only minor scratches from falling bricks.
“The rescuers told me that I was born under a lucky star,” Anzhela said.
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