How 48 Ukrainian children were rescued from a Kharkiv kindergarten hit by a Russian drone

Although he advances, Oleksandr Volobuev’s body is tilted slightly away from the camera, as if bracing for the deadly air still swirling with falling debris and smoke.

With a cautiously focused face, the major general of the Ukrainian civil defense clings tightly to a precious package, wrapped for protection in his coat – and from which two small pink shoes protrude.

This is a striking image of a dramatic rescue at a kindergarten in the eastern city of Kharkiv, following a direct and devastating impact by a Russian drone.

Unsurprisingly, it went viral, capturing the imagination of both the Ukrainian public and the wider global audience.

With 48 children trapped in a shelter in the burning building, it wasn’t the only act of bravery that day by far.

But few photographs better encapsulate the growing impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion on daily life, with Ukraine’s most vulnerable now bearing the brunt, including children.

“We received a call that there had been an attack on the kindergarten,” Oleksandr Volobuev told me. “And of course, knowing there would be children there, we left in a state of anxiety.”

Little did he expect that at the end of that day, after carrying that little girl to safety, he would find himself hailed as a national hero.

In a split second captured on camera, the Ukrainian people saw not only the reality of Russia’s new strategy – its escalating attacks on civilian infrastructure – but also a stark depiction of their own resilience and defiance.

It is impossible to know why the Honey Academy, located in a sturdy two-story brick building in the Kholodnohirsky district of Kharkiv, was hit by a Shahed drone.

The low, menacing buzz of these Iranian-designed weapons, which carry a lethal 50 kg payload, is now all too familiar, not only to soldiers on the front lines, but to Ukrainians around the world.

While they can be devastatingly accurate, Russia’s sheer volume of fire – with multiple waves of drones in each attack on cities across the country – inevitably leads to malfunctions.

Russia has regularly denied targeting residential areas, but city maps show no obvious military targets in the immediate vicinity of the kindergarten, and the Ukrainian government has certainly spoken of this as deliberate.

“Nothing justifies an attack on a kindergarten, and this can never be the case,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said shortly after the strike. “Obviously, Russia is becoming more and more brazen.”

Fedir Uhnenko was also part of one of the emergency teams rushing to respond to the strike.

Normally, as Civil Defense press secretary, he is not as involved in front-line work.

But this time, seeing the disaster unfold before him, he knew he had to act.

“There was a huge explosion and there was horror in their eyes,” he told me when he found the children huddled in the basement of the building.

Fortunately, following the air alert which had sounded before the attack, the children took refuge in the school shelter.

But with the fire still burning, the roof destroyed, and the building filled with smoke and dust, they were still in danger.

His colleagues, as well as members of the public who had come to help him, came forward one by one to pick up a child.

Like Oleksandr, his senior commander, Fedir was photographed carrying a child to safety. In his case, it was a young boy, through the rubble and smoke.

“I reassured him throughout the journey that everything was fine, that there was nothing to worry about,” he explained.

“When we came out of the building, there was a car on fire. Our boys were putting it out. And, you know, I was surprised the kid wasn’t crying. There was definitely fear in his eyes.”

“I told him, go ahead and hug me as tight as you want. I’m quite tall myself and, as you can see in the photo, he hugged me really tight.”

In the end, he had fulfilled two roles: rescue work and his daily work too. His press secretary’s headset camera filmed everywhere, capturing numerous close-up photographs and videos that have since been broadcast around the world.

The children were transported to an emergency reception point in a secure area, a few hundred meters from the nursery school.

All are unharmed, but there is no doubt that they are in danger.

An adult working nearby was killed in the strike and nine others were injured, one with severe burns and another with a traumatic leg amputation.

For all the rescuers, Fedir told me, there was a constant awareness not only of the risks of fire, falling masonry and smoke, but also of the possibility of another strike.

Russia has already struck the same target twice, in what the Ukrainians see as a deliberate strategy to kill rescuers.

The day after the attack on the kindergarten, one of these “double blows” killed a firefighter and injured five of his colleagues in a village not far from Kharkiv.

Ukraine believes Russia has turned to civilian targets in despair over its inability to make significant progress on the battlefield.

Oleksandr and Fedir say what they saw in kindergarten did not change their view of the enemy.

“From the beginning, I have only one feeling: we have to go through all this and win,” Oleksandr told me.

I ask him what kind of future he envisions for the 48 young lives he helped save.

“Of course, only good and happy lives,” he replied. “But not just our children. I would like all children to live in peace.”