Kyiv mourns three-year-old and grandparents killed in Russian drone attack

Hundreds of mourners gathered in Kyiv on Saturday for the funeral of three-year-old Dmytro Kucher and his grandparents, Halyna and Petro Kucher, who were killed in a Russian drone strike on August 8.

The attack destroyed the family home in the Brovary district, northeast of the Ukrainian capital. An initial memorial service was held at Kyiv's Spaskyi Lyceum, where Halyna had served as principal for over two decades, before the cortege moved to a churchyard in the suburb of Zazymia, near the family's former residence.

Oleksandr Kucher, the couple's son and the boy's father, described the terrifying moments of the attack. He said he woke to the sound of air defenses, not alarms, and went to the window. "Literally 30 seconds later the first Shahed flew into the next room where my children were asleep," he recounted.

Kucher said he believes the attack was deliberately aimed at people. "There were two drones, and they appeared at the beginning of the first arrival. They circled and controlled those who were alive," he said. "These drones flew until they killed my mother and father. That's how they, as I understand it, made sure that they would eliminate me and then flew."

He described his son as "our little miracle" and "the soul of our family." His parents, he noted, had been together since the fifth grade. "They died together," he said.

Svitlana Haiova, an English teacher at the school where Halyna worked, expressed the community's shock. "We just, you know, as they say, are orphaned now," she said. "We don't know what awaits us next, how we will work."

The United Nations has reported that July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians in over four years, with at least 437 killed and 2,610 wounded as Russia escalated its bombing campaign. Since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, the UN has recorded at least 16,874 civilian deaths, including 820 children.