"Woman cried, screamed, wanted to return to building to save her child". Eyewitnesses about terrorist attack in Dnipro

Throughout the residential area, there is a strong smell of burning and smoke, and dust is in the air. People are screaming.

“All the time it seemed that someone was screaming from under the rubble, it was very difficult to understand in this chaos because the sounds of equipment, cars, and everyone who was there were mixed into a loud noise. It was a real hell in a minute from my house. My heart was breaking as a man shouted his wife's name into the crowd for about half an hour, hoping she was outside and not under the rubble. Everything else was in darkness, my head did not work, I just kept clearing the debris,” Valerii says.

The guy lives 500 meters from the site of the tragedy and came here as soon as it was possible to clear the rubble. Together with other civilians, he started clearing the road of the debris before the rescuers arrived.

“We came to the building about 15 minutes after the explosion. At that moment, nothing was fenced off, people were running to the place and it all turned into a living hell. The equipment just started to arrive, but it was impossible to approach the building because everything around was covered with rebar, concrete, and glass. People began to clear the debris and turn over the burnt cars so that the vehicles could get closer to the building. In the destroyed but hanging apartments, people were still shouting and shining flashlights, the panic was mas,” Valerii recalls.

Anna also lives nearby. She, her husband, and their friends decided to provide humanitarian aid to the victims of the explosion.

“I was at home, and I immediately realized that the explosion was nearby because the building was shaking. When I looked out the window, I saw only thick black smoke. My husband and I immediately went there, people were just running, screaming... It was scary to watch,” Anna says. The girl lives 300 meters from the site of the terrorist attack.

Together with volunteers they bought and brought food, warm clothes, and sedatives to the explosion site. By this time, the Red Cross and other organizations have already set up tents near the site of the tragedy, where they received help from Dnipro residents.

“I came to the medical aid point, I was instructed to bandage people with minor injuries. A woman was brought to us — someone's mother, she asked to let her go, cried, screamed, and wanted to return to the building to save her child. This voice still sounds in my head. Unfortunately, I do not know how this story ended, the woman was taken away by psychologists,” Lev says.

The guy is a nurse and a 4th-year student of the medical academy. He came to help doctors who, together with psychologists, provided first aid to the victims on the spot. At the time of the explosion, Lev was in the dormitory, a few kilometers from the place where the Russian missile hit, and immediately rushed to the scene of the explosion.

“The screams from under the rubble were as if a person was being torn apart. I remember the feeling of a big family when everyone stops talking to hear a voice from the destroyed building, and then a huge crowd of people doing something together, because they are united by one tragedy,” Lev says.

All rescue services, social workers, volunteers, civilians, and a lawyer, who provides legal assistance in obtaining the status of a victim, have been working for many hours in the yard of the destroyed building. The seriously injured people are taken to hospitals, and people with minor injuries are helped on the spot. The invincibility points accept people for overnight stays and heating. Funds are raised for the affected families.

On the morning of January 15, it became known about 21 dead people, 73 wounded people, and 40 missing people. The data is constantly updated.

Author: Yelyzaveta Belmas