‘We shouldn’t have to bury our friends’: A family struck by war twice
The search for the sisters lasted more than a day, first amidst the rubble, then beneath it. What began as a rescue operation became a wait for the return of the bodies of 12-year-old Liubava and 17-year-old Vira Yakovileva, killed during a massive Russian attack on Kyiv on May 14, 2026. Friends of Vira and Liubava spoke to Frontliner about what life was like before their death and why the girls were home alone that night.
The Yakovliev family had already known loss. In April 2023, the girls’ father, Yevhen Yakovliev, was killed in combat in the Luhansk region. His wife Tetiana was left to raise two daughters alone. The family had not yet come to terms with his death when, on the night of May 14, 2026, a Russian missile struck the building where they lived. At the time, both sisters were home: 17-year-old Vira and 12-year-old Liubava. According to friends, that night Vira wrote in a group chat that she hadn’t heard explosions that loud in a long time.
When someone close to you is killed,
the illusion of safety disappears,
“It’s terrible to say, but we’ve gotten used to it. And so we don’t always go to the shelter. You know, when you read about people dying in the news, it feels distant. But when someone close to you is killed, the illusion of safety disappears and you realize that you could die at any moment too,” said Vladyslav, a close friend of Vira Yakovlieva.
One moment before the Russian strike
When Vira stopped responding to messages, her friends grew worried. The answer came from the news: a Russian missile had struck the building where the sisters lived. Vira was a second-year student at the Professional College of Arts and Design of Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design. Friends and classmates described her as deeply creative, someone who loved to experiment with her appearance, frequently changing her hair color, trying new looks, never content to simply blend in.
Their mother was on a night shift
when the strike hit,
Bodies of the sisters found beneath the rubble
As rescuers searched through the rubble, they first found Liubava’s body, then Vira’s. Their mother, Tetiana Yakovlieva, stayed at the site the entire time, watching in silence as rescuers worked through what had been their home just the day before. She said that in April 2023, Russians took her husband’s life in the war, and now they had killed her children and destroyed her home, and with it, every memory of her family.
“Vira and I were very close friends. I remember the first time I visited her at home, thinking what a kind mother she had. From what I know, she was on a night shift when the strike hit. I think she works at a facility for children with severe trauma. It’s hard to see her the way she is now. What she is going through is impossible to imagine,” said Vladyslav.
On the day of the funeral, Vira’s friends were supposed to be celebrating a classmate’s birthday. But the war changed everything. Instead, they gathered to say goodbye to Liubava and Vira, killed by a Russian missile.
We are young, we shouldn’t have to bury our friends.
We have never had a childhood and it seems we never will,
“We were supposed to be celebrating and opening gifts, and instead we are saying goodbye to our close friend, laying her to rest. We are young, we shouldn’t have to bury our friends. We have never had a childhood and it seems we never will. How much more blood has to be spilled before all of this ends,” said Diana, a classmate and close friend of Vira Yakovlieva.
Liubava Yakovlieva, the younger sister, was a sixth-grade student at Lyceum No. 323. Friends say the two were remarkably alike despite the years between them, similar in both appearance and interests. The sisters spent much of their time together.
“They were very close in every sense. Vira loved to change her look and experiment with makeup, and her younger sister was always there to help. I even have a video of them doing it together, but I don’t know how I can watch it now. It’s very hard,” said Vladyslav.
Farewell to the sisters killed in a Russian attack
Friends, family and fellow soldiers of their fallen father gathered at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral to say farewell to the Yakovliev sisters.
After the funeral ceremony, Vira and Liubava were cremated and later buried at Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv. During the final address, a military chaplain said the farewell was yet another reminder of how the war continues to take entire families, even when the front seems far away.
