KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� The ruined kitchen of his family鈥檚 Kyiv home stands at the center of a 42-year-old carpenter鈥檚 traumatic experience of .
Serhii Kaharlytskyi and his 10-year-old son had a narrow escape when a Russian missile landed outside on as they watched television together. The explosion tore off the front of their house in the city's traditionally tranquil Solomianskyi district.
Kaharlytskyi鈥檚 36-year-old wife, Iryna, was in the kitchen preparing a meal. She didn鈥檛 survive the strike.
鈥淚 maybe passed out for a second,鈥� Kaharlytskyi recalled Tuesday. 鈥淲hen I opened my eyes, my kid was screaming. ... Everything had collapsed, and the kitchen was gone.鈥�
Kaharlytskyi and his son managed to scramble their way outside.
鈥淭hen I came back to search for my wife to bring her to the medics,鈥� Kaharlytskyi said, 鈥渂ut I was told that it was too late, she had no heartbeat.鈥�
Multiple blasts rocked Ukraine's capital on the afternoon of Dec. 31, killing his wife and wounding 14 other people, as gathered pace in final weeks of 2022.
At his wrecked home, Kaharlytskyi sifts through the material wreckage. There are family pictures, including a wedding photo from 16 years ago, in the damaged living room. There are also metal missile fragments.
It鈥檚 the kitchen, though, where he can fully measure the loss.
鈥淚 might be able to handle this physically, but emotionally it鈥檚 hard,鈥� Kaharlytskyi said. "And my kid knows exactly where I found his mother: in the kitchen.鈥�
Now, Kaharlytskyi has to decide where to rebuild a life for him and his motherless child.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, either I will convert the kitchen into a wardrobe or, I don鈥檛 know, more likely we might just move out from this place to be far away from the war,鈥� he said.
___
Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of the war at
Bela Szandelszky, The Associated Press
