Targeting Pozniaky: Russian strike leaves 'car graveyard' and 7 killed in Kyiv's left bank (PHOTOS)

"It happened like this: one moment! — and that was it," Nina said. The weary woman had spent more than 10 hours outside by the time of this conversation, waiting for rescuers to finish their work so residents could return to their apartments to see what had survived and gather their belongings.

Nina, like many others who spoke with hromadske in Pozniaky, admitted that she did not go to a shelter despite warnings from authorities about an expected massive attack. It was too far — about a 15- to 20-minute walk to the nearest metro station.

When the air raid alert sounded, the building's residents were asleep. Then the first strikes rang out, and panic set in.

"Everything flew open, and we heard someone shout: 'People, come down, the building is on fire! Our floors are all burning!'," Nina recounted. “Which floors? We were disoriented; we did not know where to run. The doors jammed. When we managed to open them, we saw clouds of smoke, and people were running, shouting, and rushing around. From below, someone yelled: 'Come down, you will suffocate up there!' People with children came down — and into our apartment. We let them in and soaked towels so they could breathe through them. Then everyone pulled together to go down the fire stairs. It was impossible to get through there; everyone was just in shock and jumping out.”

She lives on the sixth floor, while the Russian missile hit the building from the opposite side at about the fourth-floor level. A large-scale fire and heavy smoke followed the strike, which confused residents in the section where Nina and her husband were.

Several people said that after the building "shook," their doors jammed shut, so they could not get down immediately. But people who were on the lower floors probably suffered, local residents said.

Search-and-rescue operations in the high-rise building are still underway. Rescuers have already pulled six bodies from the rubble, and one more person died in the hospital. 25 people were rescued, including children, and seven people were injured. The numbers are not final, but emergency workers are not offering predictions until the operation is complete.

Natalia, along with her daughter, a university student, and others present, watched the work at the 25-story building. A family of her daughter's former classmate lived in this building. After the attack, they stopped answering calls. But Natalia is not jumping to the worst conclusions — perhaps the family went on vacation.

Natalia herself also felt the overnight strike, the consequences of which she is now witnessing, even though she lives a few buildings away.

"We were sitting downstairs, and the building was shaking. Where would we go for shelter? The nearest is the metro," she reasoned. “There is also a school and a clinic, but that is the same as being in the building. Only there, three or four floors might collapse on you, while we have 21 after all. If a ballistic missile hits the upper ones ... But I live on the 21st, so I go downstairs.”

Despite the risks of living in a skyscraper, until now, the only effects in Natalia's apartment had been mosquito nets flying out and doors opening due to the blast wave. Though she acknowledged that the latest attacks had come dangerously close.

"Why are they targeting us here? It is as if the whole of Kyiv is our neighborhood," Natalia said. “Everything constantly flies past us. What did they find here? Either it flies by [Lake] Zhandarka, or it flies here, or it flies toward Slavutych — everything flies past our building. It’s just insane; you’re sitting there, and your hair stands on end.”

She wondered if she could help the victims in some way. Several tents had been set up right there — from law enforcement and the local administration to help residents with applications for assistance — along with a small stand offering drinks and basic sandwiches.

"What good is a sandwich to that person? They need housing, somewhere to spend the night," Natalia said sharply.

Not far from the damaged high-rise, another team of rescuers was working. Their task was to fully extinguish the local garage cooperative, the remains of which smoldered until midday.

"They called at 5 a.m. and said the garage was on fire," said Dmytro Panasovych, owner of a completely burned Lada 2109. "I ran over — I live on Vyshniakivska Street — but what was the point? There is nothing left here. The garage stood for 30 years. Who is going to restore it or compensate me now? I do not know."

The overnight Russian attack caused heavy losses among vehicles. Cars burned in the courtyards and garages, and the local auto repair shop was damaged. Owners reacted differently — some cried, others stoically wrapped their battered cars in plastic. The smell of burning and melted plastic made it hard to breathe there. But the location drew many "tourists" who came down the street to film the aftermath.

On the roadside, among the charred cars, you can also find fragments of Russian weaponry. Some people take photos, others test the debris with their feet. At least one daredevil takes a piece of shrapnel with him.

"Lord, how I wish this war would end," Nina said. “It is very scary for the children who have no life; their childhood has simply been taken from them. Every person tried to build something at home and lived their own life. But this scum that kills children — for what? When will it all end? I want it to be as soon as possible. You live with this every day.”

She has already faced Russian aggression more than once. Her parents' house in Nova Basan in Chernihiv Oblast was under occupation at the beginning of the full-scale war. And her sister, with whom they are twins, survived after torture by Russian soldiers who released people with their hands tied at a cemetery and "shot at them like rabbits."

At that time, Nina provided shelter to people from Irpin, when the enemy was advancing on the suburb. Now she and her husband are forced to look for a place with relatives themselves.

"But it is all right. Everything we have been through — we have sent it to him," Nina said. “You know, I do not want to wish that the people who live there experience the same thing. Only to those who wish us harm. And most of all — to this idol. I do not know how many of them there are, but I want all of them, this whole nest of theirs, to experience what we experience every day.”