Family of Odesa doctor killed by Russian missile given keys to donated apartment

The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Oleh Kiper, handed over the keys to a new apartment to the family of paramedic Serhiy Rotar, who died on duty while responding to a missile attack on Odesa on March 15.

This was reported by the press service of the Health Department of the Odesa Regional State Administration.

According to the department, the money for the purchase of a new two-room apartment for the doctor's family was provided by one of the businessmen of Odesa region. The department also reminded that in June, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded Serhiy Rotaru the Order of Courage, III degree.

Sergiy Rotaru was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the attack on March 15 and began to provide medical assistance to the victims, but the enemy struck twice that day. First, they hit the houses and the recreation center, and a few minutes later they struck again, killing medics and rescuers.

On March 16, the city and the region declared a day of mourning. Also on that day, it became known that one of the rescuers who was hospitalized after the attack had died.

According to the Southern Defense Forces, the missile attack on the city's civilian infrastructure destroyed a three-story building of a recreational facility, damaged at least 10 private houses, a service station, a low-pressure gas pipeline, ambulances, and fire and rescue vehicles.

It is known that the attack also killed the former deputy head of the Main Department of the National Police of Odesa Oblast, the commander of the Tsunami battalion, Oleksandr Gostishchev. The former deputy mayor of Odesa, Serhiy Tetyukhin, was also killed, and on March 17, the Odesa garrison said goodbye to firefighter Denys Kolesnikov, a rescuer.

The missile attack on March 15 was the deadliest in Odesa since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.