“They wove that my mother disappeared with two safes”: a resident of Kremenchug was not found almost a year after the rocket attack on Kremenchug

“The police called me and asked me to take a DNA test”

In the room of a 52-year-old mother of three daughters Larisa Kokhanovskaya relatives do not touch her things, the aroma of her favorite perfume is still a little heard. There are photos of her smiling everywhere. Because she loved life. Only it was taken away by a Russian missile. It happened on June 27 in Kremenchug, where 21 people became victims. All this time, Mrs. Larisa considered the only missing person, and the police and rescuers were 99% sure that there would be no body. In early April, the court declared the woman dead. The consideration of the case lasted three weeks, during the hearings information about the investigation was provided by the police, neighbors and relatives of the deceased testified that they had not seen Larisa Kokhanovskaya after an enemy rocket hit the Amstor shopping center.

- Shortly before the full-scale invasion, my mother got a job as a cleaner in a household appliances store in Amstor. She liked the work, everyone in the team loved and respected her, - told daughter of the deceased Daria Kokhanovskaya. - After February 24, we could leave for the whole family, but at a family meeting we decided to stay at home. For several weeks, the store where my mother worked was closed, then resumed work.

- After the missile attack, they wrote on social networks that workers were not allowed to go to shelter during alarms. What did your mom say about it?

- At first they ran for cover, everyone was very scared. But on June 25, an order was issued not to hide in a bomb shelter, not to interrupt the working day. In principle, my mother did not want to run far, because it was hard for her, so she hid in the room. As for the managers, I heard that they could only go into hiding when they had finished serving the customer.

- Did your heart feel something was wrong on the eve of the tragedy and remember this terrible day - June 27, 2022.

- About two weeks before that, I started having some kind of panic anxiety, but in principle I have been an empathic person since childhood. Then it didn’t matter. On that summer morning, my mother went to work as usual, I had a vacation and I planned to cook a delicious dinner just to have a good time with my family. After dinner there was an alarm. We live far from the shopping center on another March of the Dnieper, but the explosions were so powerful that we heard them. I ran out to the common balcony and saw columns of smoke closer to the center. Then another explosion. For some reason, I thought that I could get into the area of ​​​​the railway station, which is nearby. There was also a factory nearby, because the first flight was there. Where exactly the invaders were aiming is hard to say, the police claimed that they got into the shopping center by mistake. But that doesn’t change anything.

Read also: Russia’s night attack with missiles and drones on Ukraine: all 35 “Shaheds” were destroyed over the Kiev region

After the explosions, my father called me, who was 800 meters from the epicenter of the tragedy, and said that he was alive, but there was no connection with my mother. The phone was on, but no one answered the phone. We thought then that the store manager simply let everyone go to the store or my mother forgot her phone somewhere. After that, my friend showed a video where it was clear that Amstor was on fire. A cold mind was transferred to me from my mother, so I quickly mastered myself, called a taxi with my sister, drove for the godmother and went there. There were already soldiers, rescuers, police. Everything was on fire, it was impossible to go inside. My sister stayed where she was, because a people search center was being set up, and my dad and I went to the hospital. Workers came out to us and called names, described signs. There were none like it. In the evening we went home, but the police called me and asked me to take a DNA test. I didn’t have any fear back then. I believed that my mother was alive, because hope dies last. But when the next day in every hospital where we were, no one saw her, I realized that that was it. We need to look for the body … I was called several times later to take the test. There was no news.

“Most likely, I got used to the idea that I could never bury my mother”

- When did the search for mom stop and did they tell you frankly to your face that there could be no body?

- No, it didn’t. They asserted that they would continue the investigation, conduct any research, investigation, search. But once my dad and I went to our investigator and the conversation was difficult. We can say that we forced her to show the video from the store’s cameras. She agreed. The footage shows that at the time of the alarm, my mother was cleaning the trading floor. As we were told, it was two or three meters from the place where the rocket hit. The store itself did not meet many conditions, there were no fasteners there. Survive chances too. Only those who were in the yard during the alarm were saved, because he had no clients. Therefore, we no longer had any doubts that my mother was during the explosions and she died. No body, not even a DNA trace. Even jewelry… Even the gold melted from the high temperature. Of course, it is very difficult to hear such news, but I had to hold on, especially the psychologist herself. But dad felt bad. I tried my best to support him.

- Have you been offered to bury the earth or ashes from the site of the tragedy?

- I won’t say that they offered it directly… We were interested, perhaps we would like to do it this way and that way. But I was against it, because what to bury then?

- There is no grave where they could bring flowers, just cry. How do you honor your mother?

- In our house there is a corner of memory. There are two photographs of her. I put a cactus nearby, decorated it with mini-toys for the New Year holidays. Especially for mom. All her things are in the same places as before. And while they are lying… Dad communicates with the portrait. I am more skeptical, in order to make it easier, I started attending psychological support groups. Most likely, I got used to the idea that I would never be able to bury my mother. And the very place where Amstor used to be is now my place of power. There I remember the pleasant moments associated with my mother. I wear flowers. This makes it easier. Her colleagues still write to me, I feel that this is something that holds the thread between the past and the present. The shopping center itself was dismantled, surrounded by a fence. What will happen next is unknown. But I don’t want a new mall.

Read also: “They were best friends, they died together”: Russian rocket claimed the lives of two doctors in the Dnieper

You know, this year I could write a whole book about stupid questions and rumors about this tragedy. Because there were rumors that my mother was found on the roof, at the gas station. They say that two safes with money and gold disappeared from Amstor, and some people did not hesitate to say that my mother is where all this wealth is. I want to say one thing - people, be people. We’d give anything to have her back.

What did mom love the most?

- Life and family! Now that she is gone, you really appreciate it. She had golden hands. But she was better at pies with boiled eggs and green onions. This is now the kind of trigger I try to avoid. Immediately this taste, smell, and covers … I understand that there will be no more such pies, there will be no mommy, and just like before.

Earlier wrote that a mother and a one and a half year old baby were killed by a Russian rocket in Uman.