Thirteen-year-old Kyrylo Illiashenko escaped from a burning bus after a Russian missile strike on the city of Sumy and helped others to escape.

Source : Kordon.Media news outlet; Sumy Secondary School No. 4  after Hero of Ukraine Oleksandr Anishchenko

Details : As reported by Kordon.Media local news outlet, a bus caught fire after the Russian strike on Sumy on the morning of 13 April. Thirteen-year-old Kyrylo Illiashenko and his mother were inside. The doors were blocked.

The boy escaped from the burning bus through a broken window and helped save other passengers who were still alive.

Acting Sumy Mayor Artem Kobzar said Kyrylo had sustained injuries – three fragments hit his head. Doctors have managed to remove one of them. The boy is currently under medical supervision.

As Kyrylo's mother Maryna reported, he is still to undergo further medical examinations. The woman's face was cut by glass, but there is no threat to her health and she has been discharged home.

Kyrylo is in Year 8 at Sumy School No. 4 and is also a student at the Fakel Youth Sports School, where he trains in freestyle wrestling.

Most of the bus passengers and the driver were killed in the attack.

Kyrylo Illiashenko

Photo: Sumy Secondary School No. 4

As reported by Sumy School No. 4, the bus doors were blocked when the explosion occurred. Many people were killed or injured instantly. Despite having shrapnel wounds to the head, Kyrylo broke the glass with a blow, jumped out and unblocked the front door, saving the people nearby.

Background :

• On the morning of 13 April, the Russians conducted two ballistic strikes on the centre of Sumy.
• As of 18:00 on 13 April, it was known that 34 people had been killed in the attack, including two children. Another 117 people, including 15 children, were injured.
• The high number of fatalities and injuries in the missile attack was caused by a second Russian ballistic strike.
• As of Sunday evening, of the 117 people injured in the morning Russian strikes on Sumy, 68 were in medical facilities, eight of whom were in a critical condition.

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