A 23-year-old woman who lost her parents in the Russian attack on an apartment building in Dnipro, Ukraine, and whose photo of her in the middle of the building has gone viral, wanted to take stock of her life.
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Local photographers posted a picture of a woman waiting for rescue teams from her destroyed house on social media.
Screenshot | Twitter @Nexta
She was shocked at the extent of the devastation and held Christmas decorations in her hands.
Having gone viral against her will, the woman in her 20s wrote a letter that was circulated by multiple media outlets in Eastern Europe.
“I don’t know where my parents are. [Les secouristes] say they saw her alive, but I’m sure they were in the kitchen, which was completely destroyed, she said. I didn’t want to leave my quarters; I wanted to find my parents. I understand my cat is dead too.”
The Ukrainian, who mourned the death of her husband at the front four months ago, continues her letter by recalling the kindness of her parents.
“My father used to tell me jokes. I photographed animals with my mother. Then we all ate around the table,” she says.
In search of survivors
Russia fired a volley of rockets at several Ukrainian cities on Saturday, and the deadliest attack took place in Dnipro, killing at least 20 people. 35 people are still missing.
“Twenty innocent victims,” the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, Valentyn Reznichenko, lamented on Telegram, stating that 73 people were injured.
“Aid operations continue. The fate of more than 40 people remains unknown,” he added.
A video posted to Facebook and Telegram by Ukrainian emergency services showed rescuers digging through the rubble of the building overnight.
A previous report released overnight reported at least 14 dead, including a 15-year-old girl, and 64 injured in the bombing of that building. Rescuers then managed to extricate 38 survivors from the rubble.
According to the Ukrainian Presidency, between 100 and 200 people are homeless as a result of this strike, and about 1,700 residents of Dnipro were without electricity and heating.