Yurii Kuzinskiy meant to take a nap in his bedroom. But he fell asleep on a lounge chair in his kitchen instead, and it saved his life.
Around 5 p.m. last Friday, a Russian missile crashed into his bedroom, pulverizing his home into an unrecognizable pile of dust and rubble. Only the kitchen corner where Kuzinskiy was sleeping was spared.
Although Ukraine pushed Russian forces back from Kharkiv in a successful counterattack earlier this month, Russian troops are holding on in the north and are still close enough to continue shelling the outskirts of the country’s second-largest city, terrorizing residents like Kuzinskiy.
Those attacks escalated Thursday as the booming sound of missile strikes echoed throughout Kharkiv every few minutes. Oleh Synyehubov, the regional governor, urged people to take shelter and said nine people were killed and 19 were injured — figures NBC News could not independently confirm.
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“Ukrainian troops have pushed them back, and now they are being aggressive,” said Roman Dudin, the head of the Kharkiv branch of Ukraine’s Security Service. “The attacks will only end when they have no equipment left.”
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