Father says emotional farewell to his wife and three daughters killed by Putin missile strike

A devastated father said farewell to his wife and three daughters who were killed by a Putin missile strike at a tearful funeral.

Utter devastation overcame Lviv today as mourners bade farewell to four members of a family killed by a missile strike on civilians.

Only Yaroslav Bazylevych remained alive – his wife Evgeniya, 43, and three daughters Yaryna, 21, Darya, 18 and Emilia, seven, all perished in their own home.

During the heartbreaking funeral service, the broken husband and father stood close to the open coffins of a family torn apart by a deadly strike.

The tragic mother and daughters were later buried following today’s funeral at the Garrison Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Lviv.

krainians attend a funeral of members of the Bazylevych family who were killed on 4 September in a Russian strike

People attend a funeral ceremony for Yevhenia Bazylevych and her three daughters, killed during the Russian missile attack

Relatives and friends console Yaroslav Bazylevych (L), the only survivor of his family who died in a missile airstrike

The funeral ceremony at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church in Lviv, western Ukraine, on September 6

Russia has stepped up its aerial attacks on Ukraine since Kyiv launched an unprecedented cross-border offensive into Russia’s Kursk region last month

Utter devastation overcame Lviv today as mourners bade farewell to four members of a family killed by a missile strike on civilians

Relatives, friends, soldiers, public figures and ordinary residents of Lviv came to say farewell.

Many of them brought sunflowers – a symbol of Ukraine.

The Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi in all eight were buried today as a result of the Russian missile strike on Wednesday.

‘Today is a difficult day,’ he said. ‘There are eight funerals in Lviv at once. Russia killed all these people.

‘Two soldiers were killed by the Russians at the front. Six civilians from Lviv were killed by the Russians with a rocket in the centre of Lviv.

‘A mother and three daughters were killed – this is the Bazylevych family. We are all today with father Yaroslav.’

Yaryna Bazylevych worked as a programme manager in the Lviv – Youth Capital of Europe 2025 office. Her sister Darya, 18, was a university student. The youngest Emilia, seven, was a girl scout.

Deeply distressing footage taken at the scene of their destroyed house revealed the corpse of nine-year-old daughter Emilia sprawled next to a wall, her blonde hair poking out from underneath the debris. 

At least 40 people were injured in the indiscriminate Russian attack, according to Sadovyi, with the death toll expected to rise sharply.

The attack on Lviv comes just one day after Ukraine suffered one of the most devastating single attacks of the entire war when two Russian missiles scored a direct hit on a military academy and a nearby hospital in the city of Poltava.

The devastated father-of-three staggered away from the ruin of his home with blood running down his face and tears in his eyes 

A drone view shows a residential building heavily damaged during a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine September 4, 2024

Among the survivors was blood-drenched Yaroslav Bazylevych, whose wife Evgeniya and three daughters, Yarina, Darina and Emilia, were tragically killed in a strike on their house

A view shows a burning residential building damaged during a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine September 4, 2024

At least 51 people were killed and close to 300 injured in the punishing explosions that tore into the heart of the Poltava Military Institute of Communication’s main building, causing several stories to collapse.

Some 15 people are still believed to be trapped under the debris, with time running out to save them.

In the wake of the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to ‘hold the Russian scum accountable’ and yet again implored Kyiv’s US and European partners to help with air defences and allow long-range strikes into Russia.

In his nightly video address delivered later than usual yesterday amid the fallout of the attacks in Poltava, Zelensky spoke about rescue efforts and warned that the death toll could increase as rescuers comb through the debris of the military institute.

‘It is known that there are people under the rubble of the destroyed building,’ he said. ‘Everything is being done to save as many lives as possible.’

Ukrainian officials have not yet specified how many of the victims were civilians or from the armed forces, but the attack was a major blow to Kyiv as it tries to bolster its ranks to hold off a more powerful enemy.