Miner, his wife and their 6-week-old baby killed in Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih
A family in Kryvyi Rih - a mother, father and their six-week-old baby son - were killed when a Russian missile hit a residential high-rise building.
The baby’s 7-year-old brother, who was staying with his grandmother at the time of the strike, is now an orphan.
"The miracle didn't happen," commented Daria Herasymchuk, Adviser-Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for children's rights and child rehabilitation.
Four people were killed in the missile strike - the family and a 64-year-old woman - and 13 people were injured, including four children.
Rescue workers spent 15 hours clearing away the rubble of the building. The last people to be rescued from under the rubble were a young woman and then a child aged 18 months.
Local TV channel Rudana reported that the victims were husband and wife Oleksandr and Liudmyla Korneichuk and their younger son, Tymofii.
Relatives kept hoping that the baby might have survived as they searched for him for more than 12 hours.
Viktoria Korneichuk, a relative of the victims, said her nephew Oleksandr was the first person to be pulled out from underneath the rubble. He was still alive at the time and was taken to hospital, but could not be saved.
Then Liudmyla, his wife, was found dead under the rubble.
"We still had very high hopes that Tymoshka, our little blue-eyed bunny... that he would still be alive. It took so much time to sort out the rubble, and they searched for him for more than 12 hours. But we didn't lose hope. We thought he might be somewhere under some kind of overlap, some big block… maybe the baby was still alive...", Viktoria says.
Sadly, that night it became known that the little one had not survived either.
Oleksandr and Liudmyla Korneichuk worked at the Gvardiiska mine in the Kryvyi Rih iron ore combine. Oleksandr was a tunneller. A year ago, the family bought an apartment in the building that was hit by the Russian missile on 16 December.
In the early months of the war, Liudmyla and her sons were evacuated to Poland, but in August 2022, they returned to Kryvyi Rih.
On the eve of the missile strike, the Korneichuks' eldest son, 7-year-old Maksym, went to the village where his grandmother lives.
"Maksym is still with his grandmother now. He doesn't know anything yet, but he understands that something has happened. No one has dared to tell him yet. All they’ve said so far is that his parents are in hospital. And he's always trying to call them", says Viktoria Korneichuk.
Pavlo, a friend of Oleksandr’s, started a fundraiser for the family's funeral. So many people responded that he closed it ahead of schedule. The family’s funeral will take place on Tuesday, 20 December.
Now Ukrainians are being urged to help 7-year-old Arina Malenkova, who was found under the rubble of the same building
Arina received severe wounds to the chest and is on a ventilator in intensive care.
She was taken to hospital by a local resident who happened to be passing at the moment the building was hit.
Passers-by formed a chain and passed the injured people along it. Arina was in her pyjamas. She was probably still asleep when the Russians hit the building early in the morning.
There were traces of blood on the little girl’s chest.
"I kept her curled up all the way," said Serhii, who saved Arina. "I saw her chest was covered in blood. She passed out, then came to again. Her face was covered in blood. There was an expression of horror on it. I talked to her so she wouldn't lose consciousness. The traffic lights weren’t working, it was chaos... she started wheezing, there was a noise in her chest. Then I realised that her lungs were affected."
The Malenkov family has been left homeless and is asking for help to save their child.
Card details for assistance (PUMB bank):
- Maryna Malenkova (Arina’s mother) - 5355 2800 0148 4193
- Vitalii Malenkov (dad) – 4041 7026 0013 4518
If the card limits have been exceeded and payments are not being accepted, you can transfer money using the following bank account details:
- IBAN number: UA713348510000026207405419760
INN: 2923104330.
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