On October 19, around 16:30, a Russian drone struck the central park of Nova Vodolaha — a settlement approximately 50 kilometers from Kharkiv. Families with children were in the park. Two women and an infant in a stroller were killed. Initially, it was reported that 14 people were injured, including seven children. Later, information emerged about 20 victims.
Author: R.Verter | NANews
The death of three people was reported by Ukrainian Interior Minister Ivan Vyhovskyi. According to him, the Russian drone attacked the park during the day when it was crowded.
The strike hit the area of the main alley and the children’s playground. A nearby café was damaged. According to local journalists, one woman died on the spot, and the second died in the hospital. Among the dead was presumably a 25-year-old woman. The age of the infant has not yet been specified.
The head of the Novovodolaha community, Oleksandr Yesin, reported that in the first hours after the attack, there was no reliable information about the fate of the deceased child’s mother.
According to monitoring channels, around 16:20, a high-speed Russian drone was moving towards the settlement. Presumably, it could have been a jet-powered “Geran-4” from the family of Russian drones created based on Iranian “Shaheds.” There is no official confirmation of the model yet.
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Residents of Nova Vodolaha told KHARKIV Today that schoolchildren usually pass through the park on their way back from classes. But on October 19, classes in the underground school were canceled due to the threat of shelling. Many children stayed home, which likely prevented an even greater number of casualties.
Underground schools in Ukraine are protected educational facilities equipped for classes during air raids. In Israel, similar tasks are performed by school protected spaces and rooms like mamad.
The head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Synehubov, stated that there is no military infrastructure near the strike site. He called the attack a terrorist act.
Rescuers, police, and medics provided assistance to the victims, transported the injured to hospitals, and inspected the park for explosive devices.
According to the publication “Dumka”, the number of victims later reached 20 people. Final data on the injured and their condition are being clarified. The names of the deceased have not been officially published.
For the Israeli audience, this is not the first story of children dying from Russian drones in Ukraine. NANews previously reported on 14-year-old Daniel Umansky, a citizen of Israel and Ukraine, who died on September 25 in a strike on Kyiv.
This time, the Russian drone hit not a residential building but a park in a small settlement where adults were walking with children.