A 23-year-old woman in Kyiv, Veronika Osintseva, is drawing national attention after surviving a fall from her ninth-floor apartment during a Russian missile strike last week. Osintseva was sleeping when the blast blew her from her bed and out of her apartment, landing her in the rubble below. She awoke injured and calling for help, later learning that her parents, who were in another room, did not survive the attack, the New York Times reports.
Rescue workers carried her to safety, and doctors treated her for a broken leg, concussion, and multiple cuts. "I don't know how I flew, but I somehow stayed alive," she tells the Times. The hospital director described her survival as a "miracle," and the event has since made Osintseva a symbol of both tragedy and resilience amid the ongoing war. The missile strike was one of the deadliest in Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion, with at least 28 fatalities, including five children.
Osintseva, who has a background in performing arts and is known for her activism, had spent the day before the strike preparing a speech for an anticorruption protest. She frequently participated in demonstrations, often using chalk rather than placards to make her point. Friends and neighbors have expressed disbelief and gratitude for her survival, with one neighbor saying, "The world still needs her."
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Now recovering in the hospital, Osintseva has spoken about her desire for peace. "How is it possible that we are still fighting in the 21st century?" she asks. "How is it possible that we produce weapons when no one has a right to take somebody's life?" She hopes her story will help amplify calls for nonviolence and justice, saying, "A human always has a choice between violence and peace."
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