How 48 Ukrainian children were saved from a kindergarten in Kharkiv that was hit by a Russian drone

Although he is moving forward, Alexander Volobuev’s body is slightly tilted to the side of the camera, as if bracing himself against the deadly air, which is still swirling with falling debris and smoke.

The Major General of the Civil Defense Service of Ukraine, his face intently focused, clings tightly to a precious bundle wrapped for protection in his coat – and from which two small pink shoes protrude.

This is the striking image of a dramatic rescue from a kindergarten in the eastern city of Kharkiv, after a devastating, direct hit by a Russian drone.

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

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

But few pictures better sum up the growing impact of Russia’s full-scale incursion on everyday life, with Ukraine’s most vulnerable now bearing the brunt, including children.

“We received a call that there was an attack on the kindergarten,” Alexander Volobuev told me. “And of course, knowing that there would be children there, we set out in a state of some anxiety.”

Little did he expect that by the end of that day, as a result of getting that little girl to safety, he would find himself being hailed as a national hero.

In a split-second moment caught on camera, the Ukrainian people saw not only the reality of Russia’s new strategy — its increasing attacks on civilian infrastructure — but also a stark image of their own resilience and defiance.

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

The low, menacing hum of these Iranian-designed weapons, which carry a lethal 50 kg payload, is now all too familiar not only to frontline soldiers, but to Ukrainians everywhere.

While they can be devastatingly accurate, the sheer volume launched by Russia — with multiple waves of drones each attacking cities across the country — means malfunction is inevitable.

Russia regularly denies targeting residential areas, but maps of the city show no obvious military targets in the immediate vicinity of the kindergarten, and the Ukrainian government certainly talks about it as deliberate.

“There is no justification for an attack on a kindergarten, nor can there be,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said shortly after the strike. “It is clear that Russia is becoming more and more brazen.

Fedir Unenko was also with one of the emergency teams rushing to respond to the strike.

Normally, as a press officer for the Office of Civil Defense, he is not so closely involved in front-line work.

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

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

Fortunately, after the air raid warning that had sounded before the attack, the children had taken refuge in the shelter of the school there.

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

His colleagues, as well as members of the public, who came to help, one by one stepped forward to scoop up a child.

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

“The whole way I reassured him that everything was fine, there was nothing to worry about,” he explained.

“When we got out of the building, there was a car on fire. Our guys 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 hold me as tight as you want. I’m quite big myself and as you can see in the picture he grabbed me so hard.”

After all, he had fulfilled two roles: the rescue job and his day job. His presser’s helmet camera was all over the place, capturing many of the close-up photos and videos that have since been shared around the world.

The children were taken to an emergency reception point in a safe area, a few hundred meters from the kindergarten.

All are unharmed, but there is no doubt about the danger they faced.

An adult working nearby was killed on impact and nine others were injured, one with serious burns and another with a traumatic amputation of a leg.

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 is known to have hit the same target twice, which Ukrainians see as a deliberate strategy to kill emergency workers.

The day after the kindergarten attack, one of these so-called “twin faucets” killed a firefighter and injured five of his colleagues in a village a short distance from Kharkiv.

Ukraine believes that Russia has turned to civilian targets out of desperation due to its inability to achieve significant successes on the battlefield.

Both Alexander and Fedir say that what they saw in kindergarten did not change their opinion of the enemy much.

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

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

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