“This moment made the war personal”. Pavlo Dorohoi on the Russian attack on Kharkiv Regional State Administration

Three years later: tragedy of March 1, 2022 in Kharkiv

On March 1, 2022, the sixth day of Russia's full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian military continued to heroically hold Kharkiv, repelling enemy attacks. Russian troops, unable to break through the city's defenses, resorted to one of the most brutal methods of terror — a missile strike on the center of the metropolis.

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The morning blast shook Svobody Square, the central part of Kharkiv. One of the missiles hit the building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, the other hit the premises of Ukrtelecom, which was located nearby. As a result of these attacks, at least 44 people were killed and 15 others were injured.

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Among the wreckage were found the remains of those who came to work that morning, who were in office offices or just passed by the building. Some died instantly from the blast wave, others remained under the rubble. The prosecutor's office confirmed that one of the missiles was a Russian “Iskander” 9M723, and the other could not be identified, probably it was a FAB-500 aerial bomb.

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Chronicle of Tragedy

The first moments after the impact were imprinted in the minds of Kharkiv residents. The columns of the administration building collapsed, the windows were knocked out by an explosive wave, and the structure itself partially folded under its own weight. Thick black smoke rose above Liberty Square, covering the debris of the road, cars and surrounding buildings.

Footage of the moment of the explosion and its aftermath flew around the world, becoming one of the first visual proofs of how barbaric Russian aggression is. This was not a strike on a military facility — it came right into the heart of a civilian city.

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The SNS rescuers arrived on the scene almost immediately after the attack, risking their own lives, as there was always the threat of repeated shelling. They dismantled rubble, carried the victims on stretchers, evacuated those who still showed signs of life. For several days in a row, they did not stop searching, hoping to find survivors.

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After the Impact: Grief, Shock and Irreversible Loss

As soon as the air alarm passed, relatives and acquaintances of those who could be inside the building at that moment began to arrive in Freedom Square. Some of the dead were recognized in the first hours after the tragedy. Other bodies had to be pulled from under the ruins days ago.

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The building of Kharkiv Regional State Administration was erected in 1955 and was one of the symbols of the city. Its architecture, with its massive columns and monumental facade, created a sense of grandeur. However, after the impact, experts recognized it as unrecoverable — the explosion seriously damaged the supporting structures.

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Three years after the tragedy, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers honors not only the dead, but also those who rushed to help without hesitation — rescuers, doctors, volunteers and random passers-by who pulled the injured from under the rubble.

UAPP publishes a photo report by Pavlo Dorohoi, which captured the scale of the tragedy and the consequences of the terrorist attack. His pictures have become part of history — a reminder of the price Ukraine pays for its freedom.

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Pavlo Dorohoi: “This moment made the war not just real — it made it personal“

“This is the central square of the city. This is the heart of the city. Every resident of Kharkiv passes by there almost every day. There is a park and Derzhprom nearby. Such is the business card of Kharkov. Perhaps this attack was the most painful for me,” Pavel Dorogoy shares in InterviewsUAPF. Then for the first time the Russians struck the center of Kharkov, and the historical buildings were also destroyed. Before the eyes of the photographer from the Regional State Administration, the bodies of the dead were carried out, which were removed from under the rubble for two weeks.

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“It was such a strong moral blow. Until that moment, it seemed that the war was somewhere around Kharkov, and then it seemed obvious. Closer. She's here. Since then, a lot has changed in the city and myself,” says Pavlo.

Pavlo Dorohoi says that it was the photograph that gave him the strength to document everything that happens to his hometown.

“Somehow it turns out to be strange that photography, on the one hand, makes it possible to be an observer, as if to look away, and on the other hand, it is impossible not to let all these events through oneself.”— says Pavlo.

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Court and Punishment

November 13, 2023 Kyiv District Court of Kharkiv condemned38-year-old Denis Panikarov, who transferred coordinates to the Russian military. He was found guilty of directing fire in Kharkov, in particular on the building of the Regional State Administration. He received a life sentence with confiscation of property.

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Reconstruction and memory

Kharkiv survived the attempted occupation and continuous attacks, but did not break. Now they are trying to rebuild the city a little. Local authorities are considering the possibility not just to restore the administrative premises, but to create a space that will preserve the memory of the dead.

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Photographs by Pavlo Dorohoi captured the moment when the war tore away part of the city, but not its heart. Despite constant drone attacks and aerial bombs, Kharkiv continues to live — in the voices of people, in the light of surviving windows, in trams that still run through broken streets.

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Pavlo Dorohoi is a documentary photographer, documentary filmmaker, researcher of Soviet photography of the second half of the 20th century. Photographer's instagram.

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We worked on the material:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vira Labych
Editorial director: Olga Kovaleva
Literary editor: Yulia Futey
Website manager: Vladyslav Kukhar