Five-year-old Nicole Garanska and her father, Oleksandr, were killed in a drone attack by Russian forces in Kyiv on Saturday. The family lived in a small house on the territory of the Emanuel Evangelical Church in the Holosiivskyi district of the capital.
This was reported by Slovo pro Slovo.
Nicole's mother, Oleksandra, is the sole survivor. She is currently in the intensive care unit of a Kyiv hospital with injuries.
A close family friend, Diana Dudchenko, spoke about the tragedy in a commentary for UP.Life.
She recalls how the Garansky family moved to Kyiv from the frontline town of Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, after the start of the full-scale invasion. They became active participants in the life of the local church, where they met Diana.
"Oleksandra sang with me in the church worship group. Their daughter Nicole attended the same kindergarten as my son. We often saw each other, gave each other rides, and talked. It was a sincere, kind family that did not close itself off in trouble but rather helped others," the woman shares.
Nicole’s mother worked in a church kindergarten and later started baking sweets to order. Oleksandr worked part-time at various jobs and actively served in the church, holding meetings with teenagers and organizing charity events. One of the latter was a winter initiative to collect gifts for children from the frontline regions.