'We'd only seen it online before' - Russians angry at downing of 'Ukrainian' drone over their homes

Record ID: 1717329

  • Title: 'We'd only seen it online before' - Russians angry at downing of 'Ukrainian' drone over their homes
  • Date: 27th March 2023
  • Summary: KIREYEVSK, TULA REGION, RUSSIA (MARCH 27, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DAMAGED HOUSES SOLDIERS WAITING ON SITE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) KIREYEVSK RESIDENT, YURI OVCHINNIKOV (62), SAYING: "It was not scary but unexpected. But how? I graduated from an aviation academy; my specialisation was aircraft control systems, so I know how it works. Why did they not shoot it down, I wonder? They were caught napping. And they should be honest about it." SOLDIERS LOOKING AROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) KIREYEVSK RESIDENT, YURI OVCHINNIKOV (62), SAYING: "We were used to seeing these things only online but now we've felt it ourselves. Now we know how it is. At that moment, my wife and I were at home. The whole house shook. When we tried to get out, the door would not open because it was stuck. The plastic window was damaged in the conservatory. The plastering came loose around the ceiling in two rooms and in the corridor; the stretch ceiling is just hanging there." YURI GOING THROUGH FRONT GATE DAMAGE TO LIVING ROOM YURI, SAYING (Russian): "THE PLASTERING CAME LOOSE AND IS BEING HELD BY THE STRETCH CEILING" STRETCH CEILING HOLDING RUBBLE DAMAGED FENCE YURI SAYING TO HIS WIFE (Russian): "DON’T WORRY, WE ARE ALIVE. WE WILL REBUILD THE HOUSE. EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE." VARIOUS OF DAMAGED HOUSES (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) KIREYEVSK RESIDENT, ALEXANDER (72), SAYING: "It is scary! My kid is even afraid to spend a night here now. I don't know what to do, how to cope and live with it." VARIOUS OF SOLDIER WALKING PAST DAMAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) KIREYEVSK RESIDENTS, ELENA (35) AND SVETLANA (70), SAYING: ELENA: At that moment, I was by the hospital. My neighbour was at work. Her grandson was at home. Looks like he was saved by God - at that very moment, he stood up to put his phone on charge: that’s when a piece of metal hit, all the windows were smashed out. SVETLANA: Everything flew over his head. How he was not hit, I don't know. ELENA: My other neighbours were at home - a 20-year-old boy and his 16-year-old girlfriend. The girl is in hospital, but they don’t want to help the boy - he has dizziness, nausea, and he has heart problems. He was under constant observation. Nobody wants to help them, no medical help, nothing. This is absolutely outrageous. SVETLANA: They did not admit him to hospital. ELENA: We don’t know who to talk to and whether we will get compensation for all that or not. We have nowhere to live. SVETLANA: They promised us that experts would arrive this morning, and told us to wait for them at home. We agreed. But nobody has shown up yet. Nobody. We don’t know what to do. I walk into my house - the floors crack, the walls crack. I’m afraid to go in. Our roof lifted up and then came crashing back down. The windows are broken, the window frames are all smashed up. Now it's starting raining. My son has arrived, brought plastic wrap, and is covering the holes now. POLICE STANDING BY CAR (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) KIREYEVSK RESIDENTS, ELENA (35) AND SVETLANA (70), SAYING: ELENA: How can we explain this? We can’t. SVETLANA: War is war. ELENA: This is war. We heard it on the news that they shot it down. But I think it’s absolutely outrageous to shoot it down over a residential area. There's a field just 500 metres from here. They could have shot it down over there. Why over our houses? People were wounded. POLICE WAITING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) KIREYEVSK RESIDENT, ELENA (35), SAYING: "What if the children had been at home? They would have been killed. Nobody gave it a thought. It was allowed to happen. They just don’t care. I have no other explanation for this." VARIOUS OF CARS PASSING BY DAMAGED HOUSES LENIN STATUE IN DOWNTOWN KIREYEVSK SIGN READING (in Russian): "KIREYEVSK" CAR PASSING SIGN
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2023 12:34
  • Keywords: ATTACK DAMAGE DRONE KIREYEVSK RUSSIA TULA UKRAINE
  • Location: KIREYEVSK, TULA REGION, RUSSIA
  • City: KIREYEVSK, TULA REGION, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA001053727032023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Residents of the small Russian town of Kireyevsk expressed shock and anger on Monday (March 27) that an alleged Ukrainian drone had been downed over their houses, bringing down roofs and ceilings and putting their lives in danger.
    "It’s absolutely outrageous to shoot it down over a residential area. There's a field just 500 metres from here. They could have shot it down over there. Why over our houses? People were wounded," said Kireyevsk resident Elena, 35, who like some others declined to give her surname.
    "What if the children had been at home? They would have been killed. Nobody gave it a thought. It was allowed to happen. They just don’t care. I have no other explanation."
    Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday it had electronically disabled a Ukrainian drone, which veered off course and crashed onto Kireyevsk, a town of about 25,000 inhabitants some 220 km (140 miles) south of Moscow.
    A Reuters camera crew saw wrecked family houses with smashed tiled or corrugated iron roofs and mangled windows, although the main impact site was closed to media.
    Emergency services said on Sunday there was a large blast crater. The state-run news agency TASS quoted local officials on Sunday as saying three people had been hurt, none seriously.
    "We were used to seeing these things online, but now we've felt it ourselves. Now we know how it is," said Yuri Ovchinnikov, who was home with his wife at the moment of impact. "The whole house shook."
    "I graduated from an aviation academy; my specialization was aircraft control systems, so I know how it works. Why didn't they shoot it down, I wonder? They were caught napping. And they should be honest about it."
    Seventy-year-old Svetlana sobbed as she contemplated a neighbour's narrow escape from the blast, and the damage to her own home: "We don’t know what to do. I walk into my house - the floors crack, the walls crack. I’m afraid to go in."
    Kyiv did not respond to a request for comment. It usually withholds comment on reports of attacks inside Russia.
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