Odessa after the night of ‘Shaheds’: only the father survived, the mother and two-year-old child died

Strike on Odessa that became a personal tragedy for an entire family

The night attack on Odessa on April 6, 2026, once again showed that in this war, it is not military targets that are hit, but ordinary residential neighborhoods, families with children, and urban infrastructure. Russian kamikaze drones struck the sleeping city, targeting high-rise buildings and those who were at home at the time, trying to simply survive another anxious night. As a result of the strike, three people died, including a 30-year-old woman and her little daughter, who was only two years old. For the Israeli audience, another detail in this story is particularly important: the Ukrainian city was once again hit by ‘Shaheds’ — a weapon that has long become a symbol of the Iranian threat not only to Ukraine but also to Israel.

One of the drones hit a residential high-rise in the Kyiv district of Odessa. After the strike, floors from the fifth to the second collapsed, and rescuers immediately began a search and rescue operation, understanding that people might remain under the rubble.

The most terrible story of this night is connected with one family for whom the attack ended in an irreparable catastrophe. A young mother and her two-year-old daughter died under the rubble of the destroyed house. The child’s father survived only by tragic chance: a moment before the explosion, he went to the car for glasses, but during the actual strike, he still sustained injuries. This detail makes the incident even more terrifying because it shows how fragile the boundary between life and death becomes in a city attacked by drones at night.

Eyewitnesses recall that after a series of explosions, people ran out of their apartments in shock, not immediately understanding what had happened. Some managed to go downstairs after the first sounds of alarm, while others stayed in their apartments, hoping the strike would pass by. After the strike, residents ran into the yard and saw a scene they compared to frames from apocalypse movies.

What is known about the destruction

According to local authorities and emergency services, the strike on the district was extensive and affected not just one high-rise.

Damaged:

• 12 apartment buildings;
• 22 private houses;
• one kindergarten;
• district power substation;
• about 670 windows.

Due to the strike on the energy infrastructure, thousands of families were left without power. Repair crews began working overnight, trying to restore electricity supply as quickly as possible, but for many residents, the main problem at that moment was not the lack of light, but the absence of a safe home.

The rescue operation continued under the threat of new collapses

After the strikes, fires broke out in the area, and they were extinguished despite the ongoing air raid alert. Work on the site was complicated by the fact that the destroyed structures could collapse again. That is why rescuers were forced to use a crane and work in suspended baskets, dismantling dangerous sections literally piece by piece. Cynologists, psychologists from the State Emergency Service, and National Police officers were also involved on site.

The press officer of the rescue service reported that emergency rescue operations continued because preliminary information indicated the possible presence of people under the rubble. This means that even after the first official reports, the data on the number of victims did not yet seem final. In such situations, every minute counts, and every item or fragment of a structure extracted from the debris can change the picture of the tragedy. That is why the search continued without stopping.

A separate blow was dealt to the psychological state of the district’s residents. People lost not only walls and windows but also a sense of support, a feeling of usual security, and domestic stability. Crisis psychologists worked with the victims because after such nights, a person often cannot immediately comprehend the scale of their own shock.

Psychologists emphasized that many residents need at least the opportunity to speak out. When a person loses their home, documents, belongings, and familiar surroundings in one night and also hears that neighbors or children nearby have died, it is not just about stress but about a deep trauma whose consequences remain for a long time.

How many were injured and what is their condition

At the time of the reports from the scene of the tragedy, it was known that 16 people were injured. Eleven people were hospitalized, including a pregnant woman and two children.

The condition of some of the injured was assessed by doctors as serious. The pregnant woman was diagnosed with fractures of the legs and pelvis, and the youngest injured child was not even a year old.

Testimonies of survivors and the broader meaning of this attack

Residents of Odessa who managed to escape from their homes alive said that this night was the scariest for them during the entire full-scale war. One of the injured recalled that at the time of the attack, he was at home with his mother and girlfriend. They heard the first drone but did not react immediately, and when the second one approached, it became clear that there was almost no time left. According to him, the drone muffled its engine, then literally a few seconds passed — and an explosion thundered, after which the windows in the apartment were blown out, everything was covered in dust and smoke, and chaos began around.

The young man said that at that moment he managed to grab only the essentials, went downstairs, and later went back up for money and documents. After that, he helped other victims and carried the injured girl to the ambulance. She suffered a fracture, and it is precisely such personal testimonies that make dry reports much scarier because behind every official figure are real minutes of pain, panic, and struggle for life.

It is here that NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency sees important meaning for the reader in Israel. Odessa experienced an attack by Iranian drones in the hands of Russia, which means it is not only about the Ukrainian war but also about a much broader architecture of threat, where the same type of weapon is used against civilians in different regions. For Israel, this is not a distant story from afar, but yet another confirmation of how closely the Ukrainian and Middle Eastern fronts are connected in terms of security, terror technologies, and the protection of civilians.

According to Ukrainian data, in one night, the Russians launched more than 140 strike drones across the country, about 80 of which were ‘Shaheds’. Strikes were recorded not only on Odessa but also on energy facilities in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Looking more broadly, in just the past week, Ukraine has experienced more than 2800 attacks by strike drones, almost 1350 strikes by guided aerial bombs, and more than 40 missile launches of various types. These figures show that it is not about a single episode but about the systematic exhaustion of the country and its civilian population.

Odessa is now continuing to deal with the aftermath of the strike, and emergency services and utility crews are working at the site of the destruction. But the main outcome of this night is already clear: one family lost a mother and a small child, dozens of people were injured, thousands were left without their usual lives, and the city itself once again experienced a night that divided the lives of many people into ‘before’ and ‘after’.