Pregnant in Kyiv, in the wreckage of apartment hit by Russian drone, World News
Instead, the 30-year-old found herself sifting through the charred remains of her second-floor apartment in Kyiv, wrecked in a Russian drone attack on July 21.
"I don't know what kind of fate this is, why this happens, for what reason," she told Reuters, clutching her belly as daylight poured through a gaping hole that was once her living room.
Around her, broken pieces of a couch and bed sat clumsily stacked, and once-sleek kitchen shelves were covered in shattered glass and dust.
Ukrainians like Zhupanyna have endured months of worsening Russian air strikes that have killed dozens and upended daily lives since peace talks broke down last spring.
On Monday, Russian forces unleashed a fresh wave of attacks involving hundreds of drones, wounding eight people in Kyiv as it continued grinding forward on the battlefield.
Zhupanyna, who was elsewhere at the time of last week's attack, said she felt lucky that her mother was able to seek cover and emerge unscathed.
But a jagged piece of a Russian drone in her smartly designed bathroom serves as a grim reminder of the dangers she and millions of other Ukrainians face on a daily basis.
"This is confirmation that they're attacking civilian places, specifically residential apartments," she said.
Nearby, a metro station, businesses and other residential properties were also damaged.
Moscow, which has killed thousands of civilians since its full-scale invasion in February 2022, denies intentionally targeting them but says it strikes civil infrastructure such as energy systems to degrade Ukraine's ability to fight. Ukraine has also targeted Russian cities with long-range weapons, though it has caused far more limited damage.
US President Donald Trump has cited the upsurge in attacks on Ukrainian civilians for a decision this month to resume shipments of weapons to Kyiv, including air defences.
The Russians "have to stop killing us," said Zhupanyna, whose father was killed fighting at the front. "As for Trump, I would like him to simply help more."
[[nid:720728]]
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
17 minutes ago
- Business Times
First direct flight from Pyongyang lands in Moscow
[MOSCOW] A passenger plane from Pyongyang landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport on Tuesday, the first direct flight from the North Korean capital to Moscow in decades as the two countries deepened ties. The Boeing 777 aircraft, operated by Russia's Nordwind Airlines, had already flown from Moscow to Pyongyang on Sunday. It landed back in the Russian capital at 0750 GMT on Tuesday, completing its first round trip on the route, according to the website of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. The 440-seater plane was 'completely full', with most of the passengers being North Korean, Russia's state RIA news agency reported. Russian diplomat Matvei Krivosheyev, who was also on board, was quoted as saying it was the first such flight in almost three decades. 'We are confident that this flight will be in demand both by Russian tourists and by Korean comrades,' he told the RIA news agency. Russia and North Korea have forged closer ties in recent years, with Pyongyang supplying troops and weapons for Russia's military operations in Ukraine. The two countries signed a mutual defence pact last year, when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the reclusive state. North Korea confirmed for the first time in April that it had deployed a contingent of its soldiers to the frontline in Ukraine, alongside Russian troops. AFP
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Australia adds YouTube to social media ban for children
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox YouTube app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration SYDNEY - Australia said on Wednesday it will include Alphabet-owned YouTube in its world-first ban on social media for teenagers, reversing an earlier decision to exempt the video-sharing platform. Australia's internet watchdog last month urged the government to overturn the proposed exemption for YouTube after its research found 37% of children aged 10 to 15 reported seeing harmful content on the platform, the most of any social media site. Other social media companies such as Meta's Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok had argued an exemption for YouTube would be unfair. "Social media has a social responsibility and there is no doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by online platforms so I'm calling time on it," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement. "Social media is doing social harm to our children, and I want Australian parents to know that we have their backs." Social media firms will be fined up to A$49.5 million ($32.2 million) from December if they break the law, which passed through parliament in November. A YouTube spokesperson said the company would consider next steps and would continue to engage with the government. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business No clarity yet on baseline or pharmaceutical tariffs with US: DPM Gan Singapore Grace Fu apologises for Tanjong Katong sinkhole, says road may stay closed for a few more days Opinion Nobel Prize? Maybe not, but give Asean credit for Cambodia-Thailand ceasefire Singapore Facts and myths intersect at the National Museum's new glass rotunda installation Multimedia Making a splash: Highlights from the World Aquatics Championships in S'pore Singapore Terrorism threat in Singapore remains high, driven by events like Israeli-Palestinian conflict: ISD Singapore Liquidators score victory to recoup over $900 million from alleged scammer Ng Yu Zhi's associates Singapore S'pore can and must meaningfully apply tech like AI in a way that creates jobs for locals: PM Wong "We share the government's goal of addressing and reducing online harms. Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video sharing platform with a library of free, high-quality content, increasingly viewed on TV screens. It's not social media," the spokesperson said by email. Online gaming, messaging apps, and health and education sites will be excluded from the centre-left government's minimum age rules as they pose fewer social media harms to teens under 16, or are regulated under different laws, Communications Minister Anika Wells said. "The rules are not a set and forget, they are a set and support," Wells said. REUTERS
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
New York gunman was flagged by security camera system before attack, sources say
A man holding a rifle walks into an office building at 345 Park Avenue shortly before a shooting that killed several people, in the Midtown Manhattan district of New York City, U.S. July 28, 2025, in a still image taken from surveillance video. Surveillance Camera/Handout via REUTERS WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - Cameras at 345 Park Avenue flagged an approaching gunman on Monday as a potential threat that required immediate attention, seconds before he burst into the office skyscraper's lobby and began firing, according to two former federal officials familiar with New York building security systems. A still frame of CCTV footage obtained by Reuters and timestamped 6:26:52 p.m. ET – just over a minute before police received the first emergency call about the mass shooting - shows a man holding an assault-style rifle at his side. A computer-generated bright yellow box around him in the image indicates the use of software that analyzes live video feeds for threats requiring instant action, the former federal officials said. The details about the system, which have not previously been reported, raise questions about whether the gunman could have been thwarted before his attack, the officials said. Rudin Management, the real estate company that owns the tower, declined to comment on the camera system and whether it prompted any immediate actions from security staff. Police have identified the shooter as Shane Tamura, 27, a Las Vegas resident with a history of mental illness. He killed two security officers, including a police officer working on a paid security detail, a Rudin employee and an investment firm executive before taking his own life. The yellow box surrounding the shooter as he walked toward the entrance was meant to alert guards at the front security desk, the former officials said. Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, which advises schools on how to protect themselves from active shooters, said that even with such a video system in place, the threat still needs to be relayed to the building's occupants immediately by the security staff. "You can't automate this away," said Dorn, a former anti-terrorism adviser to the Georgia Department of Homeland Security and an expert on mass casualty events. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business No clarity yet on baseline or pharmaceutical tariffs with US: DPM Gan Singapore Grace Fu apologises for Tanjong Katong sinkhole, says road may stay closed for a few more days Singapore Terrorism threat in Singapore remains high, driven by events like Israeli-Palestinian conflict: ISD Singapore Liquidators score victory to recoup over $900 million from alleged scammer Ng Yu Zhi's associates Singapore Man on trial for raping woman who hired him to repair lights in her flat Sport IOC president Kirsty Coventry a 'huge supporter' of Singapore Singapore Child and firefighter among 7 taken to hospital after fire breaks out in Toa Payoh flat Singapore S'pore can and must meaningfully apply tech like AI in a way that creates jobs for locals: PM Wong Experts said some systems allow security guards to initiate an immediate lockdown of external doors, elevators and other access points. Matthew Dumpert, global leader of enterprise security risk management at financial and risk advisory firm Kroll, said the attack - the city's deadliest mass shooting in decades - prompted clients to call with questions about how to protect themselves from similar attacks. The reaction is reminiscent of the aftermath of the killing in December of United Healthcare executive Brian Thompson in Manhattan, when several companies enhanced executive protection in response. "It takes significant resources, alarms to notify people, training to recognize it, physical security elements like locks to lock down facilities and prevent somebody from having free flow access through a facility," Dumpert said. Glen Kucera, president of Allied Universal, a global security firm, also was fielding calls from clients on Tuesday. "The only way to have avoided this was to keep the shooter outside, which is very difficult," Kucera said, adding it was clear the gunman intended to cause harm and not survive the encounter, which made him the most difficult kind of the threat to stop. The security systems at 345 Park Avenue were typical of high-end offices in New York, according to Dave Komendat, senior security advisor at the risk mitigation firm International SOS. While the lobby is open to the public, as in most buildings, visitors check in at security desks to access the elevators, which are behind turnstiles. Rudin's offices, where the gunman killed himself, has bathrooms that doubled as bulletproof safe rooms, likely saving lives, Mayor Eric Adams said. Numerous companies have implemented enhanced security for the rest of the week following the shooting, including additional guards, according to the Partnership for New York City, which represents more than 300 banks, investment firms and other companies in the city. REUTERS
