A Russian cruise missile attack on a residential building in Kyiv’s Darnytsia district killed at least 24 people on Thursday, in what Ukrainian military officials described as the largest single wave of airstrikes since Russia’s full-scale invasion began more than four years ago. Among the dead were Maryna Homeniuk, a 24-year-old English teacher, and her boyfriend, Yurii Orlov, 30, a floorball captain and former hockey player.
Friends and family gathered Saturday to pay their final respects to Homeniuk, who had hoped one day to marry Orlov and start a family. Orlov’s body was not yet ready for burial.
“She was a very caring person. I feel very sorry, because she had so many dreams. She worked with children and wanted to have children herself someday, when times were safer,” her friend Olesia Yukhnovych told The Associated Press.
Homeniuk had fled Ukraine after the February 2022 invasion and completed her degree in the Czech Republic, where she added Vietnamese to the list of languages she spoke. Friends said she was fluent in about 10 languages, including Korean and Chinese. She returned to Ukraine in 2023 and met Orlov through a dating app.
The couple built a life together in Darnytsia, a neighborhood on Kyiv’s left bank that suffered through a difficult winter of Russian attacks and prolonged power cuts. They talked about relocating but could not afford to do so, Yukhnovych said.
Despite their differences — Homeniuk loved art and languages, Orlov loved sports — friends said their affection was unmistakable. She attended every one of his Sunday floorball games, their weekly tradition. He taught her how to play; she helped him improve his English.
“It’s a shame. I should have been helping prepare for the wedding and I ended up helping prepare for the funeral,” Yukhnovych said. “It’s horrible.”
Anastasiia Petrushyna, a friend and colleague of Homeniuk, described the loss of a young woman who had rescued abandoned animals and saved up for trips to see the world.
“This is a young person. This is a girl who had absolutely the whole future ahead of her,” Petrushyna said. “This future will no longer exist — our youth basically can’t have it. You never know what trouble awaits you.”
Yukhnovych said she had texted Homeniuk after the attack but received no reply.
“You never think something could happen to someone close to you, and you just message them as a precaution,” she said. “I never thought this would be one of those times when the message would remain unread.”