Russian Drone Strike Kills Ukrainian Firefighter’s Family in Chernihiv
A Russian drone attack on the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky, Chernihiv region, has killed the wife, daughter, and infant grandson of a local fire department chief, Ukrainian officials confirmed Wednesday. The firefighter was responding to earlier strikes across the city when a Shahed drone hit his home, reducing it to rubble.
Among the victims was 25-year-old Daryna Shyhyda, a patrol police officer. Her one-year-old son and mother were also killed in the blast. Emergency services discovered their bodies beneath the remains of the family residence.
The strike was part of a broader overnight assault involving 103 drones and a ballistic missile launched across Ukraine. In Pryluky alone, five civilians were killed and six injured, according to the State Emergency Service. In Kharkiv, local authorities reported 17 wounded, including a pregnant woman and four children.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the attack in a national statement, noting that the number of children confirmed killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion had risen to 632. The Pryluky deaths, he said, were a reminder of the war’s “deliberate targeting of civilian life.”
Photographs shared by police colleagues and Ukrainian officials showed Shyhyda in uniform and embracing her son. They have circulated widely, drawing public mourning and renewed calls for stronger Western pressure on Moscow.
The incident has highlighted the growing toll on Ukraine’s emergency responders, many of whom have seen their own families targeted even as they work to protect others.
“This is the reality we live in,” a colleague of the firefighter told local media. “You can be saving lives one moment and lose your own world the next.”
The drone strike comes amid intensified Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine. In the last week, Kharkiv, Odesa, and the Kherson region have all reported casualties and structural damage from drone and missile barrages.
Ukraine has responded with a series of long-range drone strikes on Russian military airfields, including a recent operation that destroyed strategic aircraft deep inside Russian territory. Ukrainian officials say such attacks are aimed exclusively at military targets.
The strike on Pryluky—targeting a home, not a command center—has renewed international scrutiny of Russia’s conduct.
Western officials have condemned the attack but have yet to announce new measures in response. Ukrainian diplomats have urged allies to accelerate air defense deliveries and close remaining loopholes in sanctions enforcement.
For Ukraine’s frontline responders, the cost of war is no longer confined to duty. It has become deeply personal. In Pryluky, the man who was trained to save others arrived home to find he could save no one.
Russian terrorism continues.
