Key facts
- A 6-year-old girl in Kyiv experienced panic after an air raid siren.
- The incident occurred following a Russian drone and missile attack on the city.
- The girl's apartment sustained damage from the blasts.
- Her mother is working to restore normalcy to their home.
For Ukrainian survivors of Russian drone and missile attacks, air raid warnings can trigger distress and panic. This was evident with a 6-year-old girl named Natalia in Kyiv, who experienced panic after an air raid siren sounded following an attack on the city. Her mother, Olha Mudra, is currently trying to restore normality to their apartment, which sustained damage from the blasts. The incident highlights the ongoing psychological impact of the conflict on civilians, particularly children. Mudra described how an evening alarm caused Natalia to panic and insist they go to a shelter. Plastic sheeting covers the shattered windows of their apartment, and shrapnel marks are visible on the kitchen wall. Mudra noted it was a miracle they survived the attack. Across the country, people have grown accustomed to the wail of sirens, both real and on phone apps linked to national warning systems, as Russia launches strikes with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles several times a month. Some rush to the nearest shelter or take precautions at home. Others choose to ignore the sirens, reflecting fatigue after more than four years of war. For 6-year-old Natalia, who narrowly escaped a blast that hit her apartment in the latest major attack on Kyiv earlier this week, the alerts bring a sense of panic that she did not experience before. Her mother, Olha Mudra, 35, stated that this event triggered something in Natalia. On the day after the nighttime attack, Mudra left Natalia at a friend's home while she tidied up. When a siren sounded, Natalia asked her friend if her mother was safe and kept saying she wanted to be taken to the bomb shelter. In the evening, when there was an alarm around 9-10 p.m. GMT, Natalia suddenly panicked and insisted they go to the shelter. Mudra, who works in a print shop, has been trying to restore a semblance of normality to home life. Plastic sheeting covers the shattered windows and shrapnel marks are visible on the kitchen wall. Outside, workers and volunteers clear away the remnants of the rubble left by the explosion. The blasts temporarily knocked out gas supplies in the flat, so Mudra collected meals from a distribution point run by a charity. She recalled it was a miracle they survived.