Volunteer Medic, 20, Killed by Second Russian Missile While Saving the Wounded in Kyiv

A 20-year-old volunteer medic who rushed toward the site of a Russian missile strike to help the wounded was killed moments later when a second missile hit the same location, according to her mother and her university.

Vitalina Yarovenko was serving with a medical battalion and had just begun a night shift on Kyiv’s left bank when Russian forces launched a combined missile and drone assault on the capital overnight from July 31 to Aug. 1, according to her mother, Natalia Koretska Yarovenko.

Missiles struck near residential buildings in the Darnytskyi district, killing five people who were running for shelter, according to Ukrainska Pravda. When bystanders rushed to help the injured, another missile struck nearby, killing two more.

Yarovenko was a fourth-year psychology student at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, an instructor in the university’s Petro Konashevych Sahaidachnyi military training program and an employee of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, according to the university.

“The best of our children are dying,” her mother wrote in a public tribute, according to Ukrainska Pravda, adding that her daughter had saved people, taught others and was preparing to defend Kyiv.

The university described her as someone who came to help without hesitation and who taught through her own example rather than through words, according to its statement. Her military training program called her a person of goodwill.

Ukrainian officials describe such follow-up attacks as “double tap” strikes, in which a second missile targets first responders and civilians who arrive after an initial blast, according to the Kyiv Post.

Nine people were killed and 33 injured in Kyiv in the overnight assault, according to Ukrainian officials. Among them was Yehor Terekhin, a 22-year-old patrol officer who was also helping the wounded when a second strike hit the same location, according to Kyiv’s Patrol Police.

Ukraine’s air force reported that 35 missiles, 27 of them ballistic, and 185 drones were launched overnight, with the vast majority aimed at Kyiv. Only two missiles were intercepted, according to the air force.