KYIV — Amid the dust, the rescue workers, and the diggers, Mykola is lucky to be alive. The five-story apartment block he called home was reduced to rubble the previous day in a Russian strike that killed 22 of his neighbors, including four children.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Current Time on August 29, he recalled being stuck under the debris after the blast.
“Rescue workers pulled me from under the rubble two hours later. It wasn’t easy. They needed hydraulic equipment,” he said, adding that he was completely buried.
The building was the epicenter of one of Russia’s biggest missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital since it began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
It is also among the highest death tolls for a single building in the war so far. In June, 25 people were killed in one building, while in July 2024 there were 31 fatalities in a single building.
The missile hit Mykola’s apartment block overnight on August 28, impacting between the second and third floor.
It came shortly after another missile had landed nearby, causing people to run to the basement or try to leave the house.
Mykola was at home with his wife and daughter.
“We were all together. My daughter got out of the rubble immediately, then my wife, but I was stuck,” he said.
The families of the victims have been gathering at the site all day. It’s a small neighborhood, and people came to find out if their friends and neighbors had survived.
“I didn’t know them. I live nearby,” said one woman, near an ad hoc shrine. “We all heard the explosions and the missiles and drones. I’ve brought flowers and a toy in memory of those who perished. It’s a tragedy.”
Svitlana Vodolaha, an emergency service spokeswoman, told Current Time that the full scale of the tragedy was still not clear.
“We have four more unidentified bodies and seven people whom we still can’t contact. Theoretically, when the found bodies are identified, there may be still three people missing. But they may not have been in the building,” she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that 53 people were injured in the building.
“All of them were provided with the necessary assistance. I thank the rescuers, police officers, doctors and nurses, all municipal and emergency services, everyone involved in helping people,” he wrote on social media.
“When Russia chooses ballistics instead of diplomacy…the world must respond accordingly,” he added.
