THIS is the heart-wrenching moment a Russian FPV drone assassinated a man weeping next to the mutilated body of his childhood sweetheart.
Valentyna, 52, and her husband Valeriy Klochkov, 54, were among the last civilian holdouts in the village of Hrabovske, in the Sumy region of Ukraine, as Russian forces push to capture the territory.
Valeriy is shown dragging the sledge out of the village of HrabovskeCredit: Telegram
The devastated husband is seen weeping next to the body of his childhood sweetheartCredit: Telegram
Valentyna, 52, and her husband Valeriy Klochkov, 54Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
Footage shared on Telegram shows Valeriy pulling his wife on a makeshift sledge along the frozen lane leading west from their village to escape the advance and reach the Ukrainian army positions.
Already wounded, Valentyna is the first to be killed as a drone slams into her body, tearing it apart.
Blood gushes on the pearly white snow, forming a pool, as her husband of 33 years dropped to his knees, with his head bowed down, by her remains.
A second drone then hovers over, unleashing a blast, killing him as well.
A week later, their bodies remain where they died – out in the open and frozen in the harshest winter of Ukraine‘s war.
Their slow and deliberate killings have become a symbol of the cruel fate of ordinary civilians caught in the crosshairs of frontline fighting.
Oleksandr Klochkov, Valentyna and Valeriy’s nephew, described them as “kind and empathetic people who were friends with many.”
The couple are understood to have been hiding in the cellar of their home since December 18 when a force of Russian troops from the 34th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade infiltrated the area around Hrabovske.
Dozens of families were rounded up and taken across the border to Russia.
Oleksandr revealed his own parents were taken prisoners, but the Russian army never reached the neighbouring house of his aunt and uncle.
Recounting the details of their killing, he told Suspline Media: “They took my parents. Then our troops resisted – and so the Russians simply didn’t reach my uncle and aunt.
“All this time they lived in the cellar. As far as I understand, my aunt either got sick, or they simply couldn’t stand being there morally. So he decided to leave.”
Oleksandr said the Russians targeted his aunt and uncle with several FPVs, but the first one missed them.
Valeriy managed to pull the sledge for a few hundred metres before stopping to rest.
“He saw the drone,” his nephew said. “It hit my aunt – straight away.
“She was on a sled, it tore her apart. Then my uncle cried next to her for about an hour. And then they launched two more.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the abductions in Hrabovske, while Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha compared the incursion to a terrorist hostage raid.
He said: “Russian invaders have stolen five dozen civilian people, mostly elderly women, from a tiny Ukrainian village, Hrabovske.
“With such medieval raids, Putin’s Russia shows it is no different from terrorist groups like Isis, Boko Haram or Hamas. We demand our civilian hostages to be returned home.”
A screengrab from the drone footage shows their bodies on the side of the frozen lane where they still remainCredit: Telegram
Putin holds talks with China’s President Xi Jinping via video link from MoscowCredit: Reuters
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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