UKRAINE, DERHACHI, Apr 27 — On April 26, the Russian army attacked Derhachi in Kharkiv region with two guided air bombs, injuring four people, including a 4-year-old boy, and two girls, aged 5 and 16, reports Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov. The fourth injured person is a 52-year-old woman.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Russian bombs fell right onto the residential building. The fire spread in the aftermath. The blast wave damaged the private buildings and energy system objects around the hit site.
“My kid is five years old. The explosive blast threw him right out of the bed. He’s got cuts and an acute stress reaction. Our entire house is ruined,” Svitlana says to Gwara Media’s journalist on the hit site. Her son is among the injured in the Russian attack.
Svitlana’s husband, Oleksii, tells us it’s the second time their house has come under fire. A little more than two years ago, on March 8, 2022, a Russian cluster munition hit the family’s yard. After that, Svitlana and the kids moved out of the city, but then returned.
“Back then, Russians congratulated us on March 8th. Today, with Easter,” Svitlana says. [Orthodox Church celebrates Easter on May 5 this year — ed.]
Kharkiv Oblast borders Russia and is close to the frontline, so Russian troops have shelled the region regularly since the start of the full-scale invasion. The shelling intensified during the months-long delays in US military assistance as Russia exploited, and still exploits, the lack of air defense systems and missiles in the Ukrainian army.
Cover photo: The aftermath of Russian bomb attack on Derhachi on April 26. Denys Klymenko for Gwara Media
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