Nine years of work destroyed as Russian attack burns down Ukrainian center for children with disabilities
A specialized center supporting children with autism and other disabilities was destroyed by fire during a Russian attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk overnight on November 8–9.
The Kolibri Center had provided services to children with autism spectrum disorders and other disabilities for years. Its founder and director, Anna Andriienko, said the attack had destroyed nine years of work.
"Nine years of work. Everything burned down," Andriienko wrote on Threads.
"There were no soldiers there! A children's center for children with disabilities and three residential apartments," she added.
Andriienko, who also heads the nonprofit Inclusion Without Limits, told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne that nobody was inside the center when the attack occurred because it was a day off.
She said that during air raid alerts, staff normally take the children to a shelter.
The center's destruction came during a broader Russian attack on Kremenchuk that also struck an apartment building and a hotel.
According to Poltava regional governor Vitalii Diakivnych, seven people were injured in the attack, including a 16-year-old boy who sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized.
The extent of the damage to the surrounding residential properties and the center's prospects for reopening were not immediately clear.