Fifteen-year-old Kalyna was playing in the yard with her two-year-old niece, Amira. At that moment, her older sister Daryna was preparing lunch in the house when an alert about an increased missile threat appeared on her phone. “If you hear anything, run straight into the house!” she managed to shout to her sister through the open door.

They had only half a minute. The moment she heard the terrifying whistling sound, Kalyna immediately realised that there was no longer enough time for her and the child to make it back to the house. Instinct took over in an instant. The girl grabbed her niece and shielded her with her own body. At that very moment, a powerful blast wave hurled the girls 7–8 metres away. Perhaps Kalyna’s quick reaction was helped by sport, as she has been playing basketball for many years.

“I saw the wave. It looked like a huge mass of air. It was like a wave at sea, only transparent and incredibly large,” Kalyna recalls that moment.

Only later, after recovering from the horror they had endured, did the family see the true consequences of the strike – their house had been partially destroyed, while several neighbouring homes had been completely reduced to rubble. On that terrible day, April 3, 2026, one woman was killed and another 11 people were injured as a result of the russian attack on Korosten.

For her selfless rescue of her little niece, Kalyna was honoured by the rescuers of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Now, in her hometown of Korosten, people recognise her in the streets, sincerely thank her, and call her a true heroine.

The family shared their story of rescue and extraordinary family resilience with the Museum of Civilian Voices founded by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.