On the evening of 10 February 2026, a Russian Geran-2 drone wiped out an entire family in the town of Bohodukhiv in the Kharkiv region. 34-year-old Hryhorii Shykula and his three young children – his two-year-old twin sons, Vladik and Vania, and his one-year-old daughter, Mira – were killed in the attack. The only survivor was his pregnant wife, Olha. A neighbour managed to pull her from the house just a couple of minutes before the explosion. Trapped beneath the rubble, she could still hear one of her sons, Vania, crying, then everything exploded. 

The family had moved to Bohodukhiv as recently as 9 February. They were planning to buy the house that was struck by the Geran-2 drone. 

A month after the tragedy, Olha gave birth to her fourth child – a baby girl named Katrusia. Even before he was killed, it was her two-year-old brother, Vladik, who had “chosen” her name. One day he walked over to his mum, stroked her belly, and said: “Katia, Katia.” Katrusia looks so much like her late sister, Mira.

The family continues to receive support and assistance from the Victim and Witness Support Unit of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

Today, Olha is learning how to live again. She is raising her daughter, taking driving lessons, writing poetry, and says that the only thing she wants is to give Katrusia a peaceful future and preserve the memory of her husband and children. 

On the day this interview was recorded, Kharkiv was once again under attack by Russian drones and guided aerial bombs.