Pregnant in Kyiv, in the wreckage of apartment hit by Russian drone

Japan Today

4 days ago

Bohdana Zhupanyna, a 30-year-old mother-to-be, stands inside of her apartment damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
By Andrii Pryimachenko
Bohdana Zhupanyna had planned to use the last two weeks of her pregnancy in Ukraine brushing up on parenting skills and preparing for the arrival of her daughter.
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.
U.S. 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."
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