UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Jun. 3 — In the morning, Russian forces attacked Rokytne village 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) south of Kharkiv. The attack killed two and injured nine people, said Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the region.
Gwara Media was at the impact site and spoke with locals in Rokytne.
A small street is lined on both sides by houses, and a farm stands at the end of the street. According to the Kharkiv regional Prosecutor’s Office, around 11:00 a.m. Russian forces attacked the territory of this farm. The attack caused a fire and killed two workers, aged 29 and 63 years old.
Gwara journalists tried to visit the farm, but management declined to comment or show the consequences of the Russian attack.
One of the farm workers, who refused to share her name, said she heard several explosions. The first explosion was far from the farm — that’s where Russians hit a house further down the street.
“After the first explosion, we left the farm and everything started flying this way,” said the employee.
Prosecutors are currently determining the type of weapon used by the Russians to attack Rokytne.
“They (the Russians—ed.) have done so much harm that it is impossible to count,” said Mykola, the owner of the house that was damaged during the first explosion.
The Russians hit a neighboring house and completely destroyed it. In Mykola and his wife Maryna’s home, the blast wave blew out the windows, broke the roof, and completely destroyed the garage and outbuildings.
The couple was at work in Kharkiv at the time of the attack. Maryna said she received a notification on her phone that all the alarm sensors in the house had activated. Her neighbors immediately called and told her what had happened.
“None of that is important. A destroyed house isn’t as important as our Monica,” said Maryna.
That was the name of the couple’s dog. The woman found her body in the garage. Monica was scared by the explosion and tried to hide, but she was killed under the rubble.
Maryna said this was a huge loss for them because Monica was a family member.
Artem, a neighbor of the couple and the owner of the house that the Russians directly hit, said the attack caused a fire. Though it was extinguished in time, nothing on the man’s property survived: the attack completely destroyed the house, garage, outbuilding, and cellar. Debris was scattered throughout the yard.
Also in the morning on Jun. 3, Russian forces launched a kamikaze drone at the Kholodnohirskyi district of Kharkiv, killing a woman, damaging a house and a pumping station, and destroying a car.
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