Teenage survivor of Russian strike at Kyiv hospital recalls first thought after bombing

Sixteen-year old Solomiia Femeniuk was caught up in a Russian missile strike on a children's hospital in Kyiv on Monday, 8 July.

The teenager was born with chronic renal failure, making hemodialysis part of her life, and had been receiving treatment at Okhmatdyt children’s hospital.

She was watching videos on her phone as an air-raid siren blared, and awoke to find the ceiling in front of her eyes and the head doctor looking after her covered in blood and on her knees.

Solomiia said her first thought was of her mother, and whether she had survived the attack.

"Then I thought: ‘Am I alive or not?’” she added.

"There was dust, and there was nothing to breathe."