4 September Attack in Lviv. One Year On

Olena, a girl from Lviv, 14 years old, painted the civilian house that was bombed by the russians on 4 September. The white figures represent the four family members who died that day.

Above is the building hit by the missile. The level of details included in the painting made by Olena is impressive from an artistic point of view, considering her young age. It is also a nod to how much she was affected by the events of that day, in the city where she lives.

Photo shared by Andriy Sadovyi, Lviv City Mayor

Photo shared by Andriy Sadovyi, Lviv City Mayor

Only the father, Yaroslav Basylevych, survived the attack.

Emiliia would have turned 7 on 15 September, only 11 days later. She took piano lessons.

Daria was studying in the Culture Studies program of Ukrainian Catholic University’s Humanities Faculty. She mentored at the UCU Volunteer Laboratory and was a Plast scout. She liked and studied acting.

Yaryna was a program manager at the office of Lviv: Youth Capital of Europe 2025. She volunteered.

Yevheniia worked as a marketer, yoga instructor, and perfumer.

Shockingly, a few months later, Yaroslav's picture from the funeral was used by Meduza, a russian independent news outlet. They have used his photo from the family's funeral, alongside other pictures of Ukrainian war victims, to create a promotional video for one of their campaigns.

Yaroslav Bazylevych considered this unacceptable. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said that “Exploiting our tragedy to evoke sympathy for russians is a complete disgrace.”

On their part, Meduza mentioned in a press-release that the video was meant to bolster their crowdfunding campaign. This video was created pro-bono by a creative agency Lure, based in Berlin. This campaign’s purpose was to engage viewers from North America, and the western part of Europe. Meduza wanted, according to their website, to offer an alternative to people who “often feel frustrated with mainstream media’s inability to provide clear, accurate reporting on russia, and they actively seek out unbiased, deeper coverage.”

Despite their claims, Meduza and Lure did not ask permission for the image of a man who lost his family to be used in their marketing. They have used the tragedy experienced by Ukrainians as a way to raise funds for their business.

A personal note from Anca, author of this blog post:

I took the picture on the left at the funeral of the Bazylevych family. I was one of the foreign volunteers attending, bringing flowers and paying our respects. It was difficult for all of us, even though the volunteers there did not know the family. We had been in shelter or sheltering that night, that was our connection to the family.

It was significantly more difficult for the friends of the family, Nataliia and Yustyna, the two artists who are working with the children affected by the russian aggression, who have supported Olena in painting this beautiful and sad painting.

On that day 7 civilians were killed:

Emiliia Bazylevych, 6;

Daryna Bazylevych, 18;

Yaryna Bazylevych, 21;

Yevheniia Bazylevych, 43;

Iryna Demydova, 52;

Oleksandr Pohoretskyi, 54;

Yurii Arabskyi, 55.