‘Unreal’: Family living in B.C. loses home in devastating Ukraine bomb blast

A Ukrainian family now living in BC has learned that they have lost everything they left behind in their homeland.

“I froze when I learned that my house was damaged, heavily destroyed and that of my neighbor,” Marko Zolotarov told Global News. “I just froze in shock, thought this is unreal.”

“There was (a) time when people lost their homes due to occupation and I was somehow preparing myself that it might happen to me too.”

A Russian bomb on a hospital in Zaporizhzhia is believed to have burned several houses in the old neighborhood of Zolotarov, killing a 17-year-old boy.

“I was 17 years old when I came to Canada around that time and he’s gone now,” Zolotarov said.

His neighbor, Yaroslav Hndeko, was outside in the garden when he said he heard the rocket. As trained he fell to the ground.

His wife Olha and their children were in the house at the time.

“She says in one second the force pushed windows and panels in and out of the house like a vacuum,” said Olha Hndeko.

The bomb was a KAB-500KR, which is a common weapon developed by the Soviet Air Force in the 70s.

Trending now

• Donald Trump sworn in as 47th US President

• Donald Trump threatens Canada, Mexico with 25% tariffs by February 1st

Olha said one rocket went through the side of her house, speared the refrigerator and lodged itself in the other end of the wall.

Miraculously, Olha and her children survived the explosion unharmed.

While she said it was a traumatic incident, Zolotarov said the bombing destroyed his only childhood bond with Ukraine.

“When the house was destroyed, it felt like a part of me was destroyed because it’s part of me,” he said.

“That location, that beautiful house, those memories.”

He said he is thankful he didn’t lose a loved one.

“While the war desensitizes you to the death of people, your heart breaks again and again.”

& copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.