KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The ruined kitchen of his family’s Kyiv home stands at the center of a 42-year-old carpenter’s traumatic experience of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Serhii Kaharlytskyi and his 10-year-old son had a narrow escape when a Russian missile landed outside on New Year’s Eve as they watched television together. The explosion tore off the front of their house in the city’s traditionally tranquil Solomianskyi district.
Kaharlytskyi’s 36-year-old wife, Iryna, was in the kitchen preparing a meal. She didn’t survive the strike.
“I maybe passed out for a second,” Kaharlytskyi recalled Tuesday. “When I opened my eyes, my kid was screaming.