President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed Decree № 23/2021 "On declaring a day of mourning in Ukraine". This was reported by the press service of the head of state.
Due to the tragedy that occurred on January 21, 2021 as a result of the fire in the home for the elderly in the city of Kharkiv and led to human casualties, as well as to honor the memory of the deceased, January 23 is declared a day of mourning in Ukraine.
"We lost 15 people in this terrible fire. These were someone's parents, someone's grandparents. Yes, they had a long life, but they certainly didn't have to face such a horrible death. These people had the right to care and security at their age. To honor their memory, a day of mourning is announced. Because there are no extra citizens in Ukraine,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.
On January 21, the two-story building in Kharkiv rebuilt into the house for elderly people caught on fire.
Department of Social Protection of the Population of Kharkiv Regional State Administration of Kharkiv Region said that there were no registered institutions for the elderly at the address where the fire broke out.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to urgently create a commission to find out the causes of the fire in a nursing home. At the same time, the Prosecutor General's Office reported preliminarily that the fire in the nursing home occurred due to careless handling of electric heaters.