People evacuate the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, on day 10 of the Russia-Ukraine war on March 5, 2022. (Photo by Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
NEW YORK - A young Ukrainian volunteer and two of her colleagues were allegedly killed by Russian soldiers while delivering dog food to a shelter near Kyiv, according to her friends and family.
Anastasiia Yalanskaya, 26, was shot and killed alongside two men she volunteered with while making the delivery in Bucha, located roughly 15 miles west of Kyiv, Global News reported.
Her friends said the vehicle was deliberately targeted with heavy weapons by Russian troops.
As Russian troops neared Ukraine's capital, Yalanskaya had insisted to her friends and family that she was going to stay.
"I asked her to be extra cautious. That nowadays, a mistake costs extremely much," her husband Yevhen Yalanskyi said. "But she was helping everyone around. I asked her to think of evacuation but she did not listen."
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So far, the United Nations has confirmed that over 750 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Ukrainian officials say that more than 2,000 civilians have died.
Yalanskaya was delivering food to a dog shelter that had been without supplies for three days.
"She was one of the best human beings I knew. She was committed to help, to help her friends and relatives and whoever needed help," Yalanskyi said.
Yalanskaya had also helped a kindergarten near Kyiv, providing food and clothes to young schoolchildren.
"We are not scared. We are united like never before. We help each other. We stand for hours at roadblocks and thank those who protect us," she had written in a social media post. "We will win."