Man dies shielding child from terrorist’s bullet in Kyiv

Oleksandr Hryhorovych, who died heroically during the terrorist attack in Kyiv. Photo: Kyiv24 screenshot

According to video footage released from surveillance cameras and police bodycams, local janitor Oleksandr Hryhorovych was killed while heroically saving a little boy during a shooting in Kyiv, media reports say. The tragedy unfolded near the entrance to an apartment building when the terrorist returned to the scene of the crime for a second time.

The footage shows a wounded child sitting on the sidewalk, with his bloodied father lying nearby. At the moment the attacker opened fire on the defenseless boy, Oleksandr Hryhorovych ran toward him and shielded him with his own body, taking the bullets himself.

Doctors in the capital fought for more than a day to save the hero’s life after he suffered severe injuries to his liver, intestines, and stomach. Despite their efforts, the man could not be saved and died in the hospital.

Local residents remember Oleksandr Hryhorovych as an extraordinarily kind man who always smiled at people and sincerely loved children. He called the neighborhood children his “grandchildren.” At his own expense, he planted fir trees in the courtyard and, on the eve of the New Year, decorated them with candy for the little ones. When the children had eaten the sweets, he would hang new ones in their place.

Oleksandr Hryhorovych was passionate about woodcarving and dreamed that after the war he would make a long table stretching along the entire building so that all the neighbors could celebrate the long-awaited peace together. He is survived by a cat, now wandering alone through the entrance hall; residents of the building have promised to care for the pet and plant new trees in the yard in memory of “Uncle Sasha.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that a cleric of the Dnipropetrovsk Eparchy died of injuries sustained in shelling.

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