KHARKIV, Ukraine — In the early hours of Friday morning, terror struck a place meant for new beginnings. A Russian drone attack damaged a maternity hospital in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, leaving new mothers clutching their infants as windows shattered and glass rained down onto hospital beds.
For Oleksandra Lavrynenko, the joy of holding her newborn son Maksym turned to panic within seconds. “We woke up and heard a very loud whistle,” she recalled. “My husband and I rushed to our little one, and in that very moment, there was a blast—the windows shattered around us.”
She and her husband grabbed their one-day-old baby and ran to the shelter below the hospital. “It was terrifying,” she said. “I had just given birth. The fear, the adrenaline—I didn’t even feel my stitches. I’m only now realizing what we went through.”
The hospital, a place where life begins, was left in disarray—its floors and beds covered in shattered glass. The wing that was hit housed delivery and surgical rooms. “Both the staff and the patients are in shock,” said Dr. Oleksandr Kondriatskyi, a hospital physician. “Some of the women had just gone through surgery. They were recovering, holding their babies, and then this happened.”
Kharkiv’s regional prosecutors confirmed that three women and three newborns were treated for acute stress. The medical team had to prepare for evacuation, balancing their own fear while trying to shield the most vulnerable—new life born into chaos.
This isn’t an isolated tragedy. Kharkiv has become a recurring target in the escalating wave of Russian aerial assaults. In the latest barrage, nine civilians were injured in the city, and nearby residential buildings were also hit. One person lost their life, and several others were wounded across the region, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
This attack is a chilling reminder of the war’s indiscriminate violence—a maternity ward transformed into a battleground, babies born into a world of sirens and shattered glass.
Every birth should begin with love, not fear. Every mother deserves peace, not trauma. Ukraine is still bleeding—but it is still standing.
