A woman pinned beneath concrete, a man with a badly broken leg, a child trapped under the rubble.
The aftermath of Thursday’s Russian drone and missile strike on Kyiv was grimly familiar: residents clawing through debris as rescuers arrived, against a backdrop of anguished cries and groans.
Among those who rushed to help was 19-year-old Vladislav Kalashnikov. Though his own flat had been torn apart in the blast, he ran to assist neighbours in a nearby block.
“I wasn’t frightened – I went straight to help,” he told Reuters outside the partly destroyed building on the eastern edge of Kyiv, where all but one of the at least 18 victims of the strikes across the city had been killed.
Footage filmed by the aspiring lawyer on his mobile phone showed a nightmarish scene of flames, twisted steel, shattered brickwork and broken glass.
Once he had checked on his family’s safety, Kalashnikov moved through the wreckage, where he came across a man lying helpless with a broken leg.
“He was screaming for help,” he recalled. “There was also a child crying for help. We helped the child first – she was trapped beneath the rubble.”
Kalashnikov, calm as he spoke, also described trying with others to pull free a woman with a severe head wound who was pinned under a concrete slab.
Explosions thundered in the distance as they worked, his video showed.
“We couldn’t lift the block,” he said quietly, lowering his eyes. It was not immediately clear if she had survived.
As he spoke, rescue workers carried away the dead in black body bags.
Kalashnikov said, like many Ukrainians, he had become accustomed to the increasingly frequent barrages that Russia which denies targeting civilians has launched against Kyiv and other cities.
Despite his close brush with death, he insisted he had no plans to leave Ukraine, even though the government this week lifted a ban on men aged 18 to 22 travelling abroad.
“I want to continue my studies,” he said. “My future is here.”
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Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 9th of January, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Overhauling Armenia's economic structure and strengthening state institutions is a main focus as the Armenian government adopts a 42-page Doctrine of Economic and Institutional Transformation on Thursday (8 January), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet say they carried out targeted strikes on Hamas operatives and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip on Thursday (8 January) after detecting a failed rocket launch from the Gaza City area.
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) sources reported a significant movement of U.S. military aircraft towards the Middle East in recent hours. Dozens of U.S. Air Force aerial refuelling tankers and heavy transport aircraft were observed heading eastwards, presumably to staging points in the region.
Snow and ice stalled travellers in northwest Europe on Wednesday, forcing around a thousand to spend the night in Amsterdam's Schiphol airport but delighting others who set out to explore a snow-blanketed Paris on sledges and skis.
Diplomatic tensions between Tokyo and Beijing escalated as Japan slams China's export ban on dual-use goods. Markets have wobbled as fears grow over a potential rare earth embargo affecting global supply chains.
Two people have been killed after a private helicopter crashed at a recreation centre in Russia’s Perm region, Russian authorities and local media have said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that Iran could face a strong response from the United States if its authorities kill protesters amid ongoing unrest.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 9th of January, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv early on Friday (9 January) killed at least 4 people, injured at least 19, and caused significant damage to residential buildings and critical infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said.
Venezuela has released prominent Venezuelan-Spanish rights activist Rocío San Miguel and four other Spanish citizens, Spanish authorities said on Thursday (8 January). Local rights groups report that promised releases of Venezuelan political prisoners are yet to materialise.
Türkiye’s United Nations envoy called on the international community on Thursday to maintain strong support for the elimination of Syria’s remaining chemical weapons, stressing that the task is both a legal obligation and a critical priority for regional security and humanitarian protection.
Georgia has said it will clarify the circumstances surrounding the U.S. seizure of a Russian‑flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic and is seeking information on its Georgian crew members.
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