Father pulls daughter’s body, wife from rubble

A Ukrainian man rushed to his home outside the central city of Dnipro in hopes of rescuing his family, only to find his 2-year-old daughter dead and wife seriously wounded as he helped pull them from the rubble of their apartment destroyed in one of Russia’s latest airstrikes of the war, authorities reported Sunday.

Writing on Telegram after the body of Liza was recovered, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that at least 500 Ukrainian children have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

The United Nations says that around 1,000 other Ukrainian children have been wounded, and thousands have been forcibly deported to Russia.

Zelenskyy, who on Thursday had noted International Children’s Day, said “Russian weapons and hatred continue to take and destroy the lives of Ukrainian children every day,” adding that “many of them could have become famous scholars, artists, sports champions, contributing to Ukraine’s history.”

Liza was killed when a Russian missile landed Saturday night in a yard next to her apartment building while she was home with her mother, said Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk. The girl’s father rushed home from work.

Zelenskyy said five children were among 25 people wounded in Saturday’s attack, which damaged two residential buildings.