Killed, boy of 14 who tried to warn elderly neighbours of air strike
A SCHOOLBOY running to alert elderly neighbours to an incoming air strike has become the latest young victim of Russian barbarism.
On hearing sirens blare across the port city of Odesa, 14-year-old Viacheslav Yalyshev ran to tell pensioners about the imminent threat rather than head for the safety of the nearest bomb shelter as missiles closed in on Monday.
His father Yevhen Yalyshev, a member of the Ukrainian air force and a veteran of the 2014 conflict in eastern Ukraine, paid to tribute to his son on social media for his selfless act.
‘You are my hero, you are the hero of Ukraine,’ he wrote. Mr Yalyshev said Viacheslav had been worried that his neighbours would not have the proper apps installed on their phones that warn users of incoming strikes.
The teenager was killed when two rockets hit a dormitory and demolished the roof of a nearby church, two days after Russian forces destroyed the runway at Odesa’s main airport, just two miles away.
Odesa mayor Gennady Trukhanov called the boy’s death ‘another blow’ to the southern Ukrainian city, saying: ‘There will never be forgiveness for those who shed the blood of innocent people, especially children.’ Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas.