Kyiv, Ukraine
—
Tributes have been paid to a 12-year-old girl who died nine days after Russian forces attacked her family’s apartment in western Ukraine last week.
“Her mother was killed, and her sister is still in the hospital. Now Adriana is in a place free from fear and explosions. Next to her mother, in a quiet and bright place, out of the reach of war,” Ternopil Mayor Serhiy Nadal said in a post on Telegram on Thursday.
The school said Adriana was a “bright and kind” child with “bright eyes” who was “loved and highly regarded by her classmates and teachers.”
Western Ukraine has escaped the brunt of Russian air attacks during the three-year civil war.
But this sense of security was shattered last week when Russia attacked two apartment blocks in Ternopil, killing 35 people, including seven children, and injuring many more.
Adriana’s parents’ home was one of the homes affected by the attack.
“Despite all the efforts of the doctors and the sincere wishes of each of us, her heart could not survive the trauma,” the school said in a Facebook post, adding that her death “has caused pain to the entire school family.”
Last Tuesday’s major Russian attack was one of the worst to target western Ukraine since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles during the attack.
A UN report released on Tuesday revealed that Russia “significantly increased” its use of long-range weapons in 2025. As a result, civilian casualties in Ukrainian cities have “suddenly increased”, the report said.
Another victim of the strike was 7-year-old Amelia Fresesco, who was killed along with her mother Oksana. Amelia’s school said in a Facebook post commemorating their deaths that the two were “hugging each other when they were burned alive by an enemy missile attack.”
“The entire school family grieves this irreparable loss. Amelia, a bright girl and a little angel, will never again sit at a desk, hug her classmates or warm them with her bright gaze.”
According to local news outlet Ternopil 1, Kamila and the Nazar brothers were also killed in the attack, along with their mother Maria. The children were 5 and 1 years old respectively. His father Kamal, who survived the strike, carried a small coffin to the funeral, according to a video posted by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Mr. Kamal is the only survivor of the missile attack on his apartment in Russia. In a matter of moments, he lost his wife and two young children,” the foreign ministry wrote along with the video. “Russia is waging war at an intolerable human cost. Its atrocities must end.”
