In her college application letter, Daryna Bazylevych described her family as "incredibly close-knit and harmonious," speaking of her parents' unwavering support and the stories they shared about Ukraine's history. "They are the strongest pillar in my life," she wrote. Tragically, of the five family members, only her father, Yaroslav, remains after a Russian missile strike on their home in Lviv on Wednesday.

In this family from Lviv only father survived today

The mother and three daughters were killed by a Russian missile.

Russia deliberately kills children every day to break Ukrainians with terror pic.twitter.com/7hHys0nsVc

— Денис Казанський (@den_kazansky) September 4, 2024

Daryna, 18, along with her sisters Yaryna, 21, and Emilia, 7, and their mother Yevhenia, 43, were killed while sheltering in the staircase of their building, a place believed to be safe. Yaroslav survived because he had gone into their apartment to fetch water when the missile hit. The incident has led to widespread mourning in Lviv and across Ukraine.

Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, noted that Yaryna worked on the "Lviv - Youth Capital of Europe 2025" project. Daryna, a scholarship student at Ukrainian Catholic University, had just started her second year studying Ukrainian culture. The university expressed its deep sorrow, calling it an "irreparable loss."

Yevhenia and her two older daughters were involved in the Ukrainian Scouts, which remembered Yevhenia as a "creative and bright personality." The Bazylevych family’s deaths occurred in what was considered a safer part of Ukraine. Lviv, near Poland, has been a haven for many displaced people from the east, offering more time to respond to missile attacks. However, the past week has been devastating for Ukraine, with the deaths in Lviv part of a larger wave of destruction, including a strike in Poltava on Tuesday that killed 53 people and injured over 270.