Husband held back in Kyiv, while Russian drone takes lives of his wife and young daughter. Report from Pohreby

Adelina was only 6 months old. She was very much wanted — the couple had tried for nearly 20 years to have a child. The family lived in Kyiv. Antonina and her daughter had come to stay with her in-laws in Pohreby because the heating had not been turned on in the capital, and it was cold in their apartment. There was a fireplace in the in-laws' house, acquaintances of the Nehoda family say.

The 12-year-old Anastasiia, who also died, was the granddaughter of the house's owners. She had come to live with her grandparents after her father died two years ago, and her mother began drinking due to the loss of her husband. Anastasiia was better off with her grandfather and grandmother. Last year, the girl was transferred from a Kyiv school to the Pohreby Lyceum.

“Anastasiia’s uncle [Yaroslav] also graduated from our school. That’s why he enrolled her here. She was very pleased to have moved to this area. Her class accepted her, she fit into the group. The girl was very positive and did well in her studies,” says Tetiana, the deputy principal of the lyceum.

Near the school entrance, a memorial corner was set up for Anastasiia. On a table covered with a light tablecloth, there is her portrait, a teddy bear, and a vase of dark roses.

As Vitaliy Kruhlenko, head of the Zazymya territorial community, which includes Pohreby, recounted, the Russian drone struck right in the room where Antonina, Adelina, and Anastasiia were staying. The house was instantly engulfed in flames. The house's owners — Petro and Nataliia — were in another room, and they survived.

Yaroslav was also supposed to come to the village, but he got held back in Kyiv after a friend asked him to give him a ride to the hospital in the morning. Because of this, he stayed in Kyiv and did not come to his parents' house.

“A board from the neighbors’ roof is hanging on our apple tree”

In the yard across from the house where the woman and two children died, Vasyl and Mariia are tending to things. Both are retirees. The woman is just sweeping up glass from the veranda: the windows in the house were blown out and the doors were damaged.

“Here on our apple tree hangs a board, it flew over from that house’s roof. And there’s another one farther out, that’s about 50 meters [away]. That’s how powerful the blast wave was,” Mariia shows, pointing out the aftermath.

Her husband says that he was on night duty at the boiler room. He learned about what had happened here from his wife over the phone:

“Our son was making coffee in the kitchen, and at the moment of the explosion, he had just gone out to get ready for work. Mariia hears poorly without [her hearing] aid, but everything shook so much that she woke up.”

Mariia’s family has lived here since 1957. They have been friends with the neighbors’ families for just as long.

“Good people, and now this tragedy. I say: Petro, how can I help? It’s very hard for him. Such a great loss… His older son died of heart disease, and now his daughter-in-law and granddaughters,” Vasyl says with a sigh.

Due to the tragedy, the Zazymya community declared a three-day period of mourning.