"Cars were burning, concrete and balconies were falling down. Everything was like in the apocalyptic movie, only in reality"

The Sinkevychs almost died during a missile attack on Kyiv on January 2, 2024. Olena is a news release director, her husband is a cameraman. The explosion wave crushed the TV workers' flats on the ninth floor that morning.

Olena remembers how the apartment burned underneath them. She and her husband began to choke on the smoke. The exit was blocked by heavy neighbors' door, they were blown out by the explosion.

They got out by a miracle.When we went down to the courtyard, we found ourselves like in a movie about the apocalypse. The entrance to the building was destroyed, several apartments were engulfed in flames. Cars were burning out around, debris was falling. 

Olena's elderly parents live in a house nearby. The mother is bedridden, the father barely moves. Fortunately, their windows were broken and they escaped with a fright.

Sinkevychs' apartment is damaged by fire and explosion, a car with belonings burned to the ground. But Olena remembers that day as her second birthday, because she managed to save the most valuable thing – her life.