Girl, nine, and mother killed as they tried to reach Kyiv bomb shelter

Olha Ivashko, 33, and her daughter Vika, nine, who were killed during the Russian missile strike
Olha Ivashko, 33, and her daughter Vika, nine, who were killed during the Russian missile strike
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The elderly man sat on a wooden chair gazing down at a small body covered in tinfoil.

The corpse underneath belonged to his nine-year-old granddaughter, Vika Ivashko, who was among three victims of another Russian bombardment on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday.

With his head bowed, and his eyes sometimes closed behind his black spectacles, Petro barely moved.

When his neighbours in Lisovyi masyv found him, he was crouched over her body, where it lay in the mud next to the wall of the local children’s medical clinic.

Unable to tear him away, one brought him a chair, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, who said a photograph of the scene proved “this is a war between the forces of good and absolute evil”.

Nearby, Petro’s wife, Natalia, stood crying over another body, that of their daughter-in-law, Olha, 33.

The young mother and her child were killed in the Russian missile strike as they tried to get into a locked bomb shelter.

Kyiv was targeted by a volley of 10 Iskander ballistic missiles, all of which were downed by air defence systems, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.

But debris from one takedown fell to the ground between the Dytyacha Polyclinic and an adjacent residential tower block, killing Olha, Vika and a third victim, Natalia Riabchuk.

Their deaths prompted officials in the capital to open a criminal investigation into those responsible for the shelter in the Desnyanskyi district, the north-east of the city.

A relative reacts as she looks at the bodies of Olha Ivashko, 33, and her daughter Vika, nine - Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko
A relative reacts as she looks at the bodies of Olha Ivashko, 33, and her daughter Vika, nine - Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko

Residents said dozens of people had been locked out of the shelter. The Telegraph could not verify their claims.

In the chaos of the clean-up on Thursday afternoon, Petro slipped back to the scene of the tragedy unnoticed to place a photograph of his slain relatives at a makeshift memorial.

Glass from blown-out windows, wooden fascias from the buildings and shrapnel from the missile littered the grounds of a formerly quiet neighbourhood of Soviet-era apartment blocks on the outskirts of the city.

Residents described being jolted out of their beds by the missiles and the booming of Kyiv’s air defences.

The barrage was the 18th long-range attack on Ukraine’s capital since the start of May, and suggested the campaign of terror would continue this month.

While the attacks have increased in frequency and intensity, deaths are rare.

Back in his apartment, a short walk from the impact zone, Petro stared at an unfinished puzzle his granddaughter had left behind with just a few pieces missing.

“Show the world what those b—---s are doing here,” he told The Telegraph.

Already grieving the loss of his son, Olha’s husband, who died less than two years ago, Petro instantly thought the worst when a deafening explosion rocked his fourth-floor apartment.

Knowing his daughter-in-law would have headed to the shelter, he immediately ran outside but could not see his family. He hoped they would have made it underground.

“But then we realised we could see their bodies,” said Petro, describing the moment he and his wife recognised their lifeless bodies just metres apart.

Struggling to comprehend the full horror of the day, and occasionally breaking off entirely, he described his daughter-in-law, Natalia, as a “real golden lady” who was an accountant at a florist.

While she worked, Petro, a retired air force technician, would spend hours watching Vika paint and play the piano.

A colourful drawing of Elsa, the princess from Disney’s Frozen, by the nine-year-old sat pride of place on their mantelpiece.

Less than 24 hours before she was taken from him, Petro took a photograph of Vika wearing his old military uniform - vastly too large for her - with the badges dotted around the jacket because she didn’t know how to place them.

The walls of the small apartment were adorned with photographs of Olha and Vika smiling together.

One picture yet to be framed and mounted was that of the nine-year-old holding two golden trophies aloft in celebration of a victory in a judo competition two weeks ago.

“I just hope people around the world see what’s happening, and hope that’s going to stop him [Vladimir Putin],” Petro said while showing the photograph from his mobile telephone.

“She was a wonderful child, very bright and calm,” said Shukhrat Khalmatov, Vika’s judo coach, on Thursday.

“She was very driven, always attending training without fail and won her battles. Her last victory, at a competition in Kyiv, she won first place.

“Today her heart stopped, and we realise she will no longer come training with us again ... it’s very, very painful.”

A man mourns over the body of his granddaughter - Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko
A man mourns over the body of his granddaughter - Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko

The grandfather, however, refused to be drawn on suggestions that the shelter had been locked when residents tried to access it as Russian missiles rained down on Kyiv.

Earlier, Yaroslav Riabchuk, who lost his wife Natalia, the third victim of the attack, accused officials of not opening the shelter.

“Every one of these people would be alive if only the security guard had opened the door,” he told The Telegraph.

Mr Riabchuk had gone to the shelter with his wife and their 11-year-old daughter, Polina, as soon as the air raid alarms sounded over Kyiv.

With the door allegedly locked tight, Yaroslav and Polina ran to find the security guard, the missile hitting less than a minute later.

They returned to find Natalia, lifeless and covered in rubble from the damaged clinic.

The family was much-loved in the neighbourhood, known for running a grocery store and once a coffee shop.

The case caused an outpouring of public anger and prompted renewed calls for residents to check shelters and report any safety violations.

In Moldova, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, threatened a tough response to any officials found responsible for not keeping shelters open.

“As if having the Russian enemy wasn’t for us, see we also have internal ones,” he told a news conference during a summit of more than 40 European leaders.

Mr Klitschko said earlier on Thursday he had ordered police officers to patrol bomb shelters during air raids to ensure they were open after he was criticised on a visit to the site of the incident.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

Its latest strike came on International Children’s Day, leading to Kyiv to cancel all its planned events to mark the day.

On Wednesday, Mr Zelensky said that at least 483 Ukrainian children had been killed since the start of the invasion on Feb 24 2022, while untold others had also suffered the consequences.

The United Nations has estimated that up to 525 children have been killed since the outbreak of the war.

To commemorate the day, Putin held video conferences with Russian families, taking questions from children who asked whether he was more powerful than Santa Claus.

“We are all sinful people, we need to strive for what is bestowed upon us,” replied the Russian president.