Mother and baby killed in massive Russian attack on Kyiv: reports

A mother and her 2-month-old son were among those killed during Russia’s massive bombardment of Ukraine over the weekend, according to local reports.

Viktoriya Grebenyuk, 32, and her son, Roman, were inside their newly purchased apartment in Kyiv’s Svyatoshynskyi district when a Russian drone struck their building, Glavkom reported.

One neighbor said the blast, which seriously injured Grebenyuk’s husband, was strong enough to send the new mother and child flying across the apartment complex in Moscow’s largest attack in the war to date.

Grebenyuk was a volunteer at 100% Life, a Ukrainian nonprofit that helps HIV-positive patients and people living with tuberculosis, hepatitis and other diseases.

The nonprofit confirmed her death in a heartbreaking Facebook post on Monday, touting the late mother as a prime example of “kindness, decency and professionalism.”

“The war took away from us a wonderful person, a beautiful woman and a gentle mother along with her long-awaited son,” the group said in a statement.

“She will remain in the memory of all who knew her as a wise mentor, a loyal friend, an inspiring leader and a person with a big heart,” the group added. “Her life, full of dreams and plans, was cut short in an instant by a brutal war. But her light, love, and example remain with us forever.”

The nonprofit said Grebenyuk was a graduate of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and she began volunteering with 100% Life during her freshman year in 2014.

As a new volunteer, Grebenyuk would teach English to children at the group’s Center for HIV-Positive Children.

She would go on to work with the group’s organization team, eventually becoming the head of the program department to aid people living with HIV in Kyiv.

HIV cases in Ukraine and Russia have soared since Moscow launched its invasion in 2022, with an estimated 245,000 living with the disease in Ukraine at the end of 2024, according to European health officials.

Marina Novak, a friend of the late Grebenyuk, said she was stunned that the new mother had died in the weekend barrage, noting that the family had recently purchased their apartment in Svyatoshynskyi.

Sunday’s Russian attack saw Moscow unleash 810 drones and decoys and 13 missiles at Ukraine over the weekend, the largest aerial assault of the war to date.

More than 700 of the Russian drones were intercepted by Ukraine’s air forces, as were at least some of the missiles in the bombardment, which struck more than 30 locations around the country, killing four people and wounding more than 40 others.