Khaibar Akifi, a journalist hailing from Afghanistan, sustained injuries in a Ukrainian drone strike in Belgorod, a Russian city located just 40 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Akifi was living with his family in the same facility that was damaged after debris from a thwarted Ukranian drone fell on it and damaged the building.
The attack claimed the lives of three individuals, including Akifi’s four-year-old child and his wife’s parents, as confirmed by a relative of Akifi. The journalist’s condition remains critical following the strike.
A family member informed Amu on Friday that Khaibar Akifi briefly regained consciousness on Friday morning, opening his eyes for a few moments, and displayed signs of improvement compared to the previous night.
In a Telegram post on Thursday, Margarita Simonyan, the head of Russia’s RT, disclosed that Akifi is currently in a coma due to the consequences of the Ukrainian drone attack. Akifi, aged 29, had temporarily stepped away from covering the Herat earthquake to visit his family residing in Belgorod, a city situated in western Russia.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the Governor of Belgorod Region, reported early on Thursday that a Ukrainian drone approaching the city of Belgorod had been intercepted and downed by a Russian air defense system. The incident resulted in debris from the drone damaging several residential houses.
Governor Gladkov noted that the three casualties from the attack were extricated from the rubble an hour after the incident took place.
The Russian state news agency Tass, without naming Akifi, provided details of the wounded individual’s condition. The victim had been in a coma until late Thursday, sustaining burns to the respiratory tract and both the upper and lower body.
According to Tass, another woman wounded in the same incident suffered a concussion and a broken leg, with doctors assessing her condition as “serious.”
