Posted on 04/29/2022 9:47:38 AM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Vira Hyrych was killed when her apartment was struck by a Russian missile in Kyiv. Radio Freedom photo
The body of Ukrainian journalist Vira Hyrych was pulled out of the wreckage of an apartment building in Kyiv on Friday, a day after two Russian missiles struck the city.
Wary Kyiv residents gathered on April 29 at the scene of the missile strike in the Shevchenkivskyi district, where the first two floors of a newly opened 25-storey apartment building were largely destroyed.
Read more: One month after liberation, Bucha’s morgue is the city’s new nucleus
Two powerful explosions rocked central Kyiv at about 8 p.m. local time on Thursday, shortly after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the city.
Zelenskyy said five missiles had been launched at Kyiv and three were intercepted.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people were taken to hospital on Thursday night and rescuers had pulled a body out of the rubble on Friday morning.
Klitschko said there were few residents in the building at the time as it had only just opened.
Hyrych’s employer, Radio Freedom, confirmed her death on Friday in a statement. They said she had worked for the company for four years as a producer and she worked on “leading Ukrainian TV channels” prior to that.
“The editorial board of Radio Svoboda expresses its condolences to the family of Vira Hyrych and will remember her as a bright and kind person, a true professional,” the statement said.
The attack came shortly after Zelenskyy and Guterres held a press conference in which Guterres condemned the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers in towns such as Bucha, which he toured during the day.
Damage from a powerful blast in Kyiv on Thursday evening as seen on April 29. Ashleigh Stewart/Global News
During his visit, Guterres urged Russia “to accept to cooperate” with ongoing investigations into war crimes by the International Criminal Court (IRCC).
Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov was also in Kyiv for a meeting with Zelenskyy on Thursday.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said the city was struck with Russian cruise missiles and called it a “heinous act of barbarism.” 'We heard two rockets whistling over our heads'
On Friday morning, residents of the Shevchenkivskyi district arrived at the apartment building to assess the damage.
Emergency services were picking through the wreckage and removing rubble. The windows of buildings in the immediate vicinity were blown out, as well as some buildings hundreds of metres down the street.
Some residents watched on in horror, while others wept.
For many, Kyiv had been something of a safe haven when Russian troops retreated from the area on March 31 after largely being stalled in their advance on the capital in the surrounding districts of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel.
Until now, Kyiv had also largely escaped the shelling that has been inflicted on the rest of Ukraine.
“I’m just shaking,” Lyudmula Dekalo said through tears, as she stared up at the destroyed apartment building, located just around the corner from where she lives.
Lyudmula Dekalo said she refused to leave her hometown and would collect Molotov cocktails to defend her city. Global News
Dekalo said her apartment, where she lives alone, shook when the missiles made landfall. She said she reacted by trying to hold up her walls with her hands.
She said she did not sleep at all because she was worried about the fate of the people inside the building that was hit.
Read more: Large explosions rock Kyiv after UN chief meets with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy
Dekalo said she left Kyiv in the early weeks of the war, first to Irpin and then to a town near Lviv when fighting in Irpin intensified, and only returned after the Russians retreated.
“We knew of course about the air sirens but there are air sirens all around Ukraine. It doesn’t matter where we are, it’s horrible and scary for people’s lives,” she said.
However, she will not leave again.
“I will collect Molotov cocktails, just in case. And we will remove these bandits from our country and we will remember everyone,” she said.
Olena was in her apartment in the building next door, on the ninth floor, with her husband when the missile strikes took place. She said she heard a huge explosion and saw a lot of dust, and one of her windows blew out.
She said there were no air raid sirens at the time of the attack, so she did not understand what was happening. Olena added she believes she was “lucky” to escape unharmed.
Pavlo Kosetskiy was with his daughter in their kitchen in the building next-door when the explosions took place.
“I first saw the flash and then heard the sound. The windows in our kitchen were destroyed,” he said.
“My daughter started screaming and my two other daughters ran out of the other room. They started shouting. We hid in the corridor. After that, we heard another explosion when we were already hidden in the corridor.”
Kosetskiy had returned to Kyiv just a few days ago after earlier evacuating, because he thought “the situation is calm.”
He said his two oldest daughters understood what was happening in the war, but his youngest daughter “just thinks it’s thunder.”
“We are very angry that our country is under attack from Russia and I agree to fight against this country for the sake of my daughters,” he said.
Tatiana Mazur said she heard ‘two rockets whistling over our heads’ while she was out walking her dog. Ashleigh Stewart/Global News
Tatiana Mazur was out walking her dog with her husband nearby when she heard the incoming missiles.
“We heard two rockets whistling over our heads, then we heard a lot of noise and saw a big cloud, like a fire,” she said.
Mazur, a doctor, said she stayed in Kyiv during the war because she and her husband are doctors and “want to help.” She said she did not want to become a refugee and wanted to put her skills to use here.
She said she feels safe “from time to time,” but it is not safe anywhere in Ukraine and she understands the risk of staying.
“We get used to it but still it’s very scary when it’s coming near our house, near you,” she said.
However, she had been buoyed by the resilience of her people.
“[Ukrainians] believe in themselves, it’s very important. If we stop supporting each other we will stop being Ukrainians.”
More info coming out.
The apartment building was next to the Artem factory. That factory makes rockets. That is from a Ukrainian source.
Also, the building the reporter was in was almost completely abandoned, there were only a few occupied apartments. That from the BBC.
Which makes sense - I can imagine that few people would want to live next door to a rocket manufacturing plant during a war.
I think a lot of us really admire the Ukrainian PEOPLE, and see them as heroic. Even if their leader is a POS. Much like many great Americans have fought for their country even if the President was a corrupt criminal like FDR or LBJ.
I don’t know Zelensky as a person. I’m sure that the government of Ukraine is as corrupt as any of its neighbors. I would not be surprised if actors there have been involved in some very nefarious dealings such as money laundering.
None of that changes the fact that Russia is utterly wrong and naked aggression such as invading your neighbor means that good and decent people will take joy in your injury, downfall, and relegation to status as a pariah state.
The fact that I was brought up during an era in which Russian nukes were pointing at my city whilst their leader was saying ‘We will bury you’ just makes it easier to take sides and harder to have any empathy for anyone who would consider Russia justified. I have vivid memories of bomb ‘shelter’ drills, and fall of the U.S.S.R. or no, the same bastards that wanted to wipe me off the map might have a President instead of a Chairman, but the more of ‘em that die, the better.
I don’t care about the government of Ukraine or their President. The Russians were wrong to invade, period. Don’t attempt to change the subject.
Huh?
That’s my point exactly.
Maybe check out my posts, or read the entirety of mine?
I’m saying exactly that- the Russians are the bad guys here, period, regardless of any other circumstances: Russia invaded a sovereign nation without provocation and deserves everything they get.
My post was in reference to this statement. But I read more of your posts. I see the point that your are making now. But yeah, other posters are wrong for making comments about Zelensky. They need to knock it off with that.
Thanks.
It wouldn’t matter *how* bad Ukraine’s government is or who they were harboring, there’s no justification for Russia’s actions.
Regards
There's a lot of $#itty governments out there. FWIW, I think the government of Ukraine had matured the past three decades in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. But their crazy alcoholic parent is trying to drag them back to that former hellhole they were trying to escape from. Can't blame the Ukes a bit. They're in a tough neighborhood. And they're fighting like hell for their freedom.
Yep
You sound like the communist censors at Twitter. Like it or not, Zelensky and Putin are both relevant to any discussions on this. You don’t get to tell people what they can and can’t discuss.
My dad was a Navy recon pilot and served for 28 years. The Cold War was “his war.” I was a kid in Italy when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia and we were put on alert. We kids learned then what a “bug out bag” was, though fortunately, we didn’t have to leave.
The duck and cover drills were slightly before my time, but not by much. But hey, I got to do real duck and cover activities in Iraq, so it certainly isn’t an alien concept to me.
So if you were trying to invalidate my opinion with those experiences, you might want to go back to the drawing board. 😏
Russia sucks for invading Ukraine, but there is more to all of this than the storm of propaganda flying in our faces every day portrays. It’s not all black and white like so many seem to think.
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/29/1095465857/russia-kyiv-rocket-guterres
Why Russia’s rocket attack on Kyiv is seen as an insult to the U.N.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres had recently met in person with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he was on a high-profile visit to Ukraine’s capital — but those circumstances weren’t enough to prevent Russia from launching a deadly attack on a residential area of Kyiv while Guterres visited the capital city Thursday night.
Ukrainian officials are calling the attack a “postcard from Moscow” and an insult to the United Nations.
The attack’s timing quickly set off suspicions
Five Russian missiles hit Kyiv “immediately” after Guterres and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finished a meeting, Zelenskyy said. It was an intentional affront to the global diplomat, he added.
“This says a lot about Russia’s true attitude to global institutions,” Zelenskyy said Thursday night. “About the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything that the organization represents.”
Guterres arrived in Ukraine after meeting with Putin on Tuesday, hoping to de-escalate the war and guarantee humanitarian aid for civilians whose lives have been upended by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Thursday, Guterres toured the ruined town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, which was bombed and occupied. For him, it evoked the evil and absurdity of war.
“I must say what I feel. I imagined my family in one of those houses that is now destroyed and black,” Guterres said. “I see my granddaughters running away in panic, part of the family eventually killed. So, the war is an absurdity in the 21st century. The war is evil.”
Guterres also spoke about the NEED TO RESPECT INTERNATIONAL LAW and about being at “ground zero” — remarks that later took on a chilling aspect after Russia sent a new attack into the capital.
The Russian military says it used “HIGH-PRECISION long-range air-based weapons” to destroy buildings related to the Artem rocket and space enterprise in Kyiv. BUT a visit to the scene found that the most visible damage was to an apartment building nearby. The building stands next to a factory that makes missile PARTS, BUT ALSO VACUUM CLEANERS.
“The duck and cover drills were slightly before my time”
There were “duck and cover drills” in Detroit elementary schools with trips to school basements all thru 50’s+
I didn’t start school until the early 60s. Kindergarten.
Detroit was a major, major manufacturing hub at the time.
There were always concerns.
I can remember my dad [ WWII Army Air Corp) would hear an plane overhead & identify it for us kids.
Interesting:
1. There are a total of eleven active military bases in Michigan, which include Army and Air Force bases.
Because Michigan is surrounded by the Great Lakes, it is one of the only inland states to have Coast Guard bases.
https://www.operationmilitarykids.org/military-bases-in-michigan/
[My Grandpa trained at Camp Custer for WW1]
2. I remember being in a tank at Selfridge when I was little :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfridge_Air_National_Guard_Base
For a battalion of around 1000, those Azov guys and gals sure get around... /s
Early on the Russians were boasting of how they were using “precision munitions”. They seemed to run out pretty quickly.
Unless... The Rooskies were trying to collapse this apt. tower. That’s the 1st thing I thought when I saw the pic of that hit.
I don’t see how I or anyone can “invalidate” your opinion.
I’m just saying that there is *ONE* fact that overrides and trumps all others: Russia violently attacked and invaded a sovereign state that had not attacked it. There is simply nothing that could justify this, nor is there any factor that could make me wish for anything other than ignominious and humiliating defeat for Putin and his forces.
Sometimes there are actual bad guys, sometimes things are pretty black and white. In my opinion, this is one of them.
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