A Ukrainian firefighter has been captured in a gut-wrenching video breaking down in tears after Russian forces deliberately targeted first responders rushing to the scene of an attack in Kharkiv, killing his father.
The attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city on Thursday left four people dead, three of whom were first responders, local authorities said. After first striking a residential building, Russian forces unleashed a repeat attack on rescuers arriving to help the injured.
One of those killed was 52-year-old Vladyslav Loginov, a firefighter who had arrived at the scene with his son, Volodymyr, who’d followed in his dad’s footsteps and was also working as a firefighter.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Vladyslav and Volodymyr were working next to each other, literally a few houses away from one another. When a powerful explosion rang out, the son immediately understood that it had most likely hit where his father was,” Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
A video shared by the Internal Affairs Ministry shows Volodymyr on his knees amid the wreckage at the scene, breaking down after reportedly having seen his father’s “bloodied body.” Two other emergency workers can be seen struggling to console him.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack “despicable and cynical” in a statement on social media.
