She tells the situation on the spot

A cap adorned with the printed Ukrainian flag rests on the ground after the attack on Soumy, April 13, 2025.Image: keystone

Maryna Striletska lives in Soumy, where two Russian missiles killed more than thirty people and injured more than a hundred other Sunday. She tells how she experienced the attack and why she refuses to leave her home.

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A Russian strike in downtown Soumy, Ukraine in the middle of the branch religious celebration, killed at least 32 civilians on Sunday. This is the deadliest attack for months. Maryna Striletska, football coach and resident of the bruised city, says her daily life under the bombs and explains why, despite everything, she refuses to flee.

Image: watson

How are you after the arugula attack against downtown Soumy?
Since the start of the war, I have lived in a state of permanent stress, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I’ve been sleeping well for three years, I hear explosions at night. Sometimes I sit, overwhelmed by immense sadness. For a long time, I thought: “I am strong, I don’t need help.” But after what happened yesterday, I had to admit that I needed psychological support, that I was not going well. And of course, I am afraid that other attacks occur.

Maryna STRILESKA lives and works in Soumy.Image: ZVG

You were not in Soumy on Sunday for professional reasons. How did you learn the attack?
By an application which sends an alert in the event of an imminent attack. Then I immediately called my daughter. She is alive and fortunately unscathed, and nothing happened either for my husband. Little by little, I understood the magnitude of the attack: I saw in videos the destruction and the corpses extended in the street. Children were even killed! It destroys me yesterday. And it continues to destroy me Today.

How was the attack?
After the alert, we have about a minute to take shelter. For many people in the city center, it was obviously not enough. After the first missile, people are fled to help. The second rocket struck those who tried to treat the wounded. One of my knowledge was killed. It makes you realize that it can happen to anyone.

How was the next day?
Many employers, including mine, have called on their employees to participate in cleaning, if they had the capacity. The main street was blocked by charred cars.

The inhabitants of Soumy deposit flowers at the scene of the attack in tribute to the victims, and teams of psychological support of emergency speak to traumatized people. Many companies, schools and even the university have remained closed today to allow people to help, mourn or go to church. If they still dare to get out of their home. Many fear a new Russian attack.

Rescuers participate in clearing operations in downtown Soumy, April 13, 2025. Image: keystone

How is help organized on site?
Many things go through discussion groups, where you can offer or ask for help. Yesterday, for example, a call for blood donation was relayed to it. When houses are bombed, people collect clothes or host the victims. After yesterday’s explosions, many pets fled. Today, their owners publish their photos in these groups to find them.

You live just a few kilometers from the Russian border, in the middle of a war area. How does that affect your daily life?
For example, I no longer go to the city center or in shopping centers because they are regularly targeted. I move a lot for my work and try to educate people about war, I show videos, I make you visible what is happening here.

Do you think you leave Soumy after what happened yesterday?
After the attack, many kyiv friends wrote to me so that we came to their homes and left Soumy. But even in kyiv, we are not safe. There too, Russia attacks. Despite everything, as a family, we will now discuss what we are going to do, and whether we stay or not.

A man relies against a bus affected by the arugula and cries on April 13, 2025.Image: keystone

What would you push you to leave?
At the start of the war, I always said to myself: if the attacks are getting closer, I will leave. Recently, several houses in my neighborhood have been bombed. The first day, we are in shock. The second and third, we say to ourselves: no one died, so we stay. It’s hard to explain, but here it is our home.

Despite the constant threat?
I already lost my home once, when I had to flee the Donbass in 2014. I left everything behind me and I rebuilt myself here. The idea that Russia can chase us a second time is very difficult to accept.

A woman cleanses her window edge after the attack in Soumy on April 13, 2025.Image: keystone

What do you expect from the political allies of Ukraine?
Trump described the attack on “fault” civilians. It makes me incredibly angry. I would like to see him survive here, if only two days. He would no longer speak simply of a “fault”.

What do you expect from the European Union?
I think that, thanks to the help of the EU, we can stop Russia. But for that, we need more resources. Currently, we just receive enough to survive, but not to counterattack.