Ukraine city mourns dead, cares for survivors of airstrike
Since Russia invaded Ukraine almost 11 months ago, many Ukrainians had fled to Dnipro
DNIPRO, Ukraine (AP) — Before the Russian missile struck the apartment building next door, Anna Kotova had moved closer to the window to take a congratulatory 19th birthday call from her sister.
Kotova's boyfriend staggered into the kitchen after the explosion and found her covered in blood. The blast at the neighboring building blew out windows and doors in her apartment, and a shard of glass had pierced one of the young woman's eyes. Another just barely missed a major artery on her neck.
“Thankfully, she was alive,” Denys Kryvulia, 24, said, recalling the first moments after the deadliest single attack on Ukrainian civilians since the spring.
The death toll from the Saturday afternoon strike in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro reached at least 45 people, including six children, officials said. Kotova was among at least 79 people injured; doctors had to remove her eye, and she remains hospitalized.
