BBC Photo: A dramatic rescue of children from a nursery school in Kharkiv, after it was directly hit by a Russian drone
Source: BBC News
DST News: As Major-General Oleksandr Volobuev moves forward through the smoke and falling debris, his body leans slightly away from the camera — as if pushing against the deadly air. His face is calm yet focused, and in his arms he clutches a precious bundle wrapped in his coat. From it, two tiny pink shoes peek out — a haunting image that has come to symbolize courage amid destruction.
This striking photograph captured the dramatic rescue of children from a nursery school in Kharkiv, after it was directly hit by a Russian drone. The image has gone viral, resonating deeply in Ukraine and around the world as a symbol of both tragedy and heroism.
Inside the burning building, 48 children were trapped in a basement shelter. Their survival was thanks to the swift action of rescue workers and civilians who risked their lives to pull them from the smoke-filled ruins.
Among those who rushed to help was Fedir Uhnenko, a press officer for Ukraine’s Civil Defence Service. Normally stationed far from danger, he couldn’t stand by as the disaster unfolded. “There’d been a huge explosion, and there was horror in their eyes,” he recalled, describing how he found the frightened children huddled in the basement.
Though the air raid siren had given them time to reach the shelter, the fire, collapsing roof, and choking dust still posed deadly risks. One by one, rescuers and volunteers stepped forward to carry the children to safety.
“We got the call that a kindergarten had been attacked,” Major-General Volobuev said. “We knew there would be children, so we set off in a state of deep anxiety.”
By day’s end, the image of him carrying that small child had spread across Ukraine — turning him into a national hero. To many, it embodied not just the suffering caused by Russia’s intensifying attacks on civilians, but also Ukraine’s unbreakable spirit.
The kindergarten, known as the Honey Academy, stood in Kharkiv’s Kholodnohirsky district — a sturdy two-storey brick building that offered no military value. It was struck by a Shahed drone, one of the Iranian-designed weapons Russia has been using in large numbers. Each drone carries a 50-kilogram explosive payload and produces a menacing hum that Ukrainians have learned to dread.
While Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, maps of the area show no military sites nearby, leading Kyiv to condemn the strike as intentional.
“There can be no justification for attacking a kindergarten,” President Volodymyr Zelensky declared after the incident. “This is further proof that Russia’s aggression is becoming ever more blatant.”
The rescue of Kharkiv’s children — and the image of a general carrying a child through smoke and rubble — has since come to define the humanity and resilience of a nation under siege.
