"I wrote to mom, but she was already dead" — stories of those killed after the strike on Nova Vodolaha in Kharkiv region

On October 19, a Russian drone struck the central park of Nova Vodolaha in the Kharkiv region, where families with children were relaxing. Among the dead are 34-year-old Yulia Spichak and eight-year-old Arina Koval.

Yulia's husband, serviceman Vitaliy, had just returned home on leave. He was building a house and looking forward to meeting his family. Arina's grandmother, Olha Yaroshenko, lost her granddaughter, and her daughter and grandson were hospitalized with severe injuries.

BBC — Ukraine spoke with Vitaliy and Olha about their lost loved ones and life, which changed forever.

Warning: the story contains horrific details that may be distressing.

"Went in for a coffee"

Yulia Spichak brought her ten-year-old son to English classes. Due to the war, children study a lot online, but parents try to find opportunities for additional lessons.

While her son was in class, Yulia went to a cafe in the central park of Nova Vodolaha. She wanted to drink coffee and wait for the classes to end.

Her husband Vitaliy, who returned home on leave, recalls that day in a conversation with the BBC. His wife had brought their child for English class.

"Our children study online, but we need to somehow help the child improve, take them to additional classes," he says.

Yulia went into the cafe in the park. There she took a photo with her coffee. It was her last photo.

"She took her last photo with coffee — and then the strike happened," says Vitaliy.

After the explosion, the English teacher took the children to a shelter. She tried to call Yulia, but she didn't answer. Then the teacher called Vitaliy.

"She says: 'I can't reach your wife.' I answer: 'I can't reach her either, I don't know what's with her.'"

Vitaliy headed to the park. But due to the threat of repeated shelling, people were not allowed in.

Later, an acquaintance who works in the police helped him find out what had happened.

"I asked him to show me a photo. He didn't show me a photo of my wife's body, but he showed me a photo of her passport. And it was my wife. My Yulechka."

Vitaliy doesn't hide that he is experiencing the most terrible days of his life.

"These are probably the most horrific days of my life. And the worst vacation I could ever have," he says.

Павялічыць

"Mom burned so badly that nothing was left?"

After the explosion, Yulia's ten-year-old son remained in the building opposite the park. He was scared and started writing to his mom to pick him up. The boy didn't know that Yulia would no longer answer.

The child was picked up by his aunt. At first, the son didn't know what had happened to his mom.

However, classmates wrote to him that she had died, but the boy didn't believe it.

Vitaliy decided to tell his son the truth himself.

Before this, he collected Yulia's belongings, documents, and phone. The mobile was bloody, and the man wiped it.

The son asked: "Mom burned so badly that nothing was left of her?"

"I said: 'Son, yes, mom's phone is there… The uncle from the police will bring it to us,'" Vitaliy recalls.

Then the boy told what he felt after the explosion when he tried to contact his mom.

"I was writing to mom, but mom was already dead."

Vitaliy retells these words, trying to explain what the child went through that day.

Now the boy is left with his father. Their entire lives changed in an instant.

"The drone operator saw everything"

On the same day, a Russian drone killed eight-year-old Arina Koval in the park. Her grandmother, Olha Yaroshenko, lost her granddaughter.

Olha's daughter, Lilia, and her son Artem sustained severe injuries and were hospitalized.

"Yesterday I lost my granddaughter, who was eight years old. My daughter has already undergone surgery, she is in the hospital. My grandson is in serious condition," Olha told the BBC.

According to her, the relatives' injuries are serious. The family raised the question of their transportation to Kyiv, particularly to the "Okhmatdyt" children's hospital.

Olha recalls exactly where the strike occurred. It was the central park, where parents with small children usually played.

"In broad daylight. In the central park. Where, as usual, young mothers with children, with strollers, were playing. There was a cafe where children ate ice cream, drank cocoa.

And a Russian drone arrived. And killed children. Killed mothers."

Павялічыць

Olha speaks about what happened with pain and indignation. She is convinced that the drone operator could see people in the park.

"It's cynical. Cynical. This drone operator — he saw. He made several circles. He saw."

Olha Yaroshenko speaks not only about her own loss. The strike took the lives of other women, leaving children without mothers, and families without loved ones.

"I will bury my granddaughter. My daughter lost a close friend with an infant. Children lost their mother. More families lost their mother. Young, beautiful girls, angels.

I don't understand. I don't understand. This is simply intimidation of us. To intimidate, to bring to our knees, when they have no advantage on the battlefield," says Olha.

"I don't wish this upon anyone"

Vitaliy knows about the front from his own experience. He himself is a serviceman and sustained shrapnel wounds.

While he served, Yulia worried about him. Now he is left without a wife, and their ten-year-old son — without a mother.

When the BBC asked Vitaliy about Donald Trump's statements regarding the war and whether international partners understand what Ukrainians are going through, he replied:

"God grant that the American people do not experience this. I don't wish anyone to go through what I and my wife did."

He talks about wounded soldiers, about people who lose limbs, about daily strikes on Kharkiv and about the destruction that the war leaves behind.

"Guys on prosthetics, guys without arms, without legs. How many people have been made disabled. Why all this? Why should peaceful people die? Why should people who live, who want to live, have to go through this?"

Vitaliy doesn't hide his anger. He doesn't understand why Russia continues to kill people and destroy their homes.

Павялічыць

"I was building a house, I was on vacation, they call me and tell me that such a situation has happened. Well, how do I live on? I don't know."

For him, the question of ending the war is not an abstract political discussion.

It's a question about his wife, who is no longer there, about his son, whom he has to raise alone, and about a future that he will now have to build anew.

He calls on international partners not to compete in loud statements, but to seek a way to stop the shelling.

"Let everyone gather there and discuss stopping all shelling… and not measure who did what and where more."

When journalists ask what he would like to say to people who don't understand what it means to live during wartime, Vitaliy replies:

"They need to face the truth and understand: if Ukraine falls, tomorrow it could be Poland too. We, Ukrainians, are such a people that we stand. It's difficult, but we stand."

At the end of the conversation, the BBC asked Vitaliy if he would like to add anything.

"I don't know what to add. Glory to Ukraine."

• 0
• 0
• 0
• 0
• 0
• 6
• 1
• 0