According to the eldest daughter, 18-year-old Alina Boiko, the strike was carried out using russian multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). Alina’s 12-year-old brother, Kyrylo, was at home and witnessed the aftermath of the tragedy from the window. Alina herself was at work. Upon hearing from her brother that her mother had been injured, she rushed to the scene of the tragedy. 

Ihor Boiko, aged 39, sustained fatal injuries to his head and neck – there was no chance of saving him. Andrii Pietukhov (“Boxer”), a well-known volunteer from Kherson, came to their aid. He took the injured children to hospital.

Three-year-old Viktoriia, who was on a swing at the time of the explosion, suffered the most serious injuries. The girl lost one eye, and she subsequently had a plate fitted to her skull at the “Okhmatdyt” Children’s Hospital in Kyiv. Six-year-old Sofiia sustained a shrapnel wound to her back, but the doctors decided not to remove the small fragment. The girls’ mother was hospitalised with a shattered leg. 

Following the tragedy, all responsibility fell on 18-year-old Alina, who took charge of the paperwork and organising her father’s funeral. To facilitate treatment, the family moved to Kyiv, where the children are also being looked after by their grandmother and their mother’s sister.

Alina remembers her father as a kind man who, even during the occupation of Kherson, had survived being abducted and beaten by russian soldiers. Today, the young woman’s main goal is to get her family back on their feet and tell the world the truth.