Norwegian mother loses son in Russian missile strike on Ukrainian defence tech gathering

Vladyslav Maliarchuck, who had become a Norwegian citizen, left Norway to join a private Ukrainian firm developing VR and drone technology for the front lines. He travelled to the Butsja suburb of Kyiv for a defence-industry showcase that was not publicly authorized and was announced on social media. Russian surveillance drones located the gathering and launched three ballistic missiles; Ukrainian air defence downed one, while the other two hit the crowd, killing 12 and injuring roughly 100 and destroying dozens of homes.

Vlad did not answer his mother's calls, and his colleague Artem later learned from Ukrainian security services that he was dead. Marina Nilssen and her husband Frode drove from Fredrikstad through Sweden and Poland to Ukraine, where they were told Vlad had been identified among the dead and was later cremated; the family received his urn. President Volodymyr Zelenskyj later condemned the event, saying such gatherings should not be held under war conditions.