Ukrainian woman, 6-months pregnant, husband killed in Russian airstrike

Russian “Kamikaze” drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital claimed the lives of a young couple who were about to give birth to their first child. Viktoria Zamchenko, 34, was six months pregnant when she, her partner, Bohdan, and their cat were killed during a rush hour drone attack on October 18.

During the second wave of Russian airstrikes in a week, an apartment building in the heart of Kyiv was struck, resulting in a total of four fatalities. Senior Ukrainian presidential adviser Anton Gerashchenko claimed the family perished after a drone struck an apartment complex. “Bohdan and Victoria, 34, were both found dead. It is reported they were expecting their first child in a few months,” Gerashchenko tweeted.

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According to Euromaidan Press, Viktoria worked as a sommelier at the GoodWine store in Kyiv. Her body was discovered in the rubble following the attack on the apartment building. Further, according to Anna Petrukova, who spoke with Victoria Zamchenko minutes before her death on the phone, the couple was imprisoned in their apartment by the first drone strikes on October 18, CNN reported. The couple had been thinking about leaving the city, Petrukova continued, after an attack last week caused the windows of their apartment to be blown out. 

Mirror reported citing Zamchenko’s colleagues as saying, “She sincerely loved wine and her work. Today her body was found in an embrace with her beloved husband Bohdan and a cat in their house where the Russian drone arrived. They were expecting a child.

Furthermore, Denys Monastyrskyi, the interior minister for Ukraine, said there had been deaths in other cities but he did not provide an exact number. The Kyiv apartment building was filled with black smoke, and firefighters worked assiduously to put out the fires. Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, drones have been a significant factor in the conflict, but their use has increased since Moscow purchased new drones from Iran over the summer.

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The drones, which Russia has rebranded as Geran-2 drones, are believed to be Iranian-made Shaheds. They can linger over targets before nosediving into them and carry an explosive charge. They are referred to as “kamikaze” drones because they are not reusable, unlike other similar weapons that fly back to their starting point after dropping missiles.