Borodianka after the Russian invasion: Terrible destruction after airstrikes, dead bodies under the rubble, and a monument to Taras Shevchenko shot through

Yuri Maznychenko 05 April 2022

I would like to start with words of my first experience as a war journalist, namely, documentary reporting. I never thought I would ever have to do something like this. I never imagined that war would break out in the country where I was born 37 years ago. That my homeland would have to defend itself against a dishonourable horde led by a brutal dictator who is furious at the very thought of Ukraine. Recently he was respected and feared by the whole world, but the "denazification" of Ukraine, announced in February, revealed an unexpected fact. Vladimir Putin is a scintillating dickhead who is incapable of winning wars. His destiny as the eternal FSS scum is only to sow fear and terrorize peaceful people.

After seeing what the army of monsters created in Bucha, I realized that I could no longer limit myself to civilian reporting and military analysis. And I had to see everything with my own eyes. No matter what horrors my imagination painted and no matter how scary it was to get one step closer to war.

I make my report from the ruined and shot by Russian troops in Borodianka a direct speech of those people who managed to survive the days of the occupation and stay alive. Without edits or censorship. The simple emotions of the people who shared about their lives under the bombs and guns as routinely as telling me where and how to find the right bus to Kyiv. I always thought there was no chance get used to war and its horrors. But in their eyes I read what I was so afraid of - it turns out you can.

I met Oleksandr when I was filming the monument to Shevchenko with his headshot through. The man, who is in his 60s, still can't forget the airstrikes on Borodyanka, would like to punch famous pro-Russian deputy Illya Kiva in the face and calls for fighting looting in the city after the war has begun.

"I'm already dreaming about planes and explosions. There must be something wrong with my psyche. Maybe I'm already going crazy," - he answers me when I find out if he's okay. He staggers slightly, but I don't notice any signs of alcohol intoxication. It's probably just nerves. Especially since it's de facto impossible to find alcohol or anything narcotic in the ruined city.

"On March 1, there was a convoy entering Borodianka. I went out into the yard at that time to see, and mine were all sitting in the shelter. Only a few times their tanks fired in the direction of the railway station. Our militaries met them. They blew up some units. And then Russians asked for air support. Four bombs flew in! I even lost a couple of teeth out of fear. It was 7:15 in the morning. It's called a good morning!

It was very scary. Tanks were shooting before that and it was ok, but when the aviation bombed... There was such a hole! About 5 meters deep and 10 meters wide. It was great that a grandmother I knew from that house went to the shelter for the night.

Ukraine was building and building, and the "Russian peace" came and in a month they put all into the dirt. I heard what Kiva said on the Internet. He says that the Russian troops were leaving Bucha in a civilized manner, and ours made a staging with corpses. Bitch, what a fool he is! Can you imagine that? We were the ones who lived here all our lives and then thought, let's destroy everything here and kill everyone!

Today I went out in the yard and cried. I couldn't stop crying. Honestly. After what I saw.

And looting... I understand that you came to get a piece of bread, groats and potatoes. Maybe there's nothing to eat. No, they were looting tableware, equipment, and mobile phones. And the locals were also involved in the looting. The locals, who would steal for vodka. If I find out someone's stealing for vodka, I swear I'll set fire to the house in broad daylight. Because everyone knows whose it is, where it comes from, and you dare to take it? You cannot profit from others' grief. The time will come, and you will be lifted on pitchforks. Trouble has come to all!

When the "Fora" shop was on fire, men were taking out TV sets, kettles, and more from the second floor of the store. We ran out to punch them in the face. A weirdo was carrying two packed plasmas. Where are you taking them? War is everywhere, you can't get away from it.

We have a woman living in Borodianka. Tanya was always walking her dogs. Everyone knows her as Tanya the dog lady. So she managed to carry water and some food to the survivors under the rubble and those who couldn't get out after those bombings. The woman should be given a monument for a lifetime! Eight people seemed to have made it out of the rubble alive. The others are still there".

Taking pictures of Borodianka's main street, I notice a sun-woman against the gloomy ruins of the city. It is the red-haired Lyudmila in the orange jacket, who received humanitarian aid and was on her way home. She comes from Belarus, admits that the children miraculously managed to evacuate from the city, and tells me what became of the dead. After all, by the time I was there, there were no more bodies on the streets of Borodianka.

"I have a house not far from the church where the priest was arrested. It's the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. At first, people were buried there in a civilized manner and food was distributed to the residents. How many people died? People were dying: some under the rubble of houses after airstrikes, some shot in the street. We used wheelbarrows to take bodies to the cemetery that we could carry away. Some, to keep the occupants out of sight, buried the dead in the gardens.

That's how my friend's son was shot in the street. They just shot him in the back. He laid there for a day, we couldn't even go out to get the body. There was no bullying in Borodyanka, as they say now about Bucha. But the shooting was very intense. If you went out into the yard, you might not come back.

On March 2, planes flew in and dropped bombs on residential buildings. We were just sitting in the shelter, but we could hear all the horror of what was happening outside. Also, "Grads" were firing in the city, and rockets from "Iskanders" were launched twice. "By the way, the Grads were at the stadium, from where they were firing at the Armed Forces of Ukraine positions. They did not touch the monument to Afghans, but they destroyed the monument to ATO Heroes.

On February 25, our guys were given rifles, and at first, the Russians sent paratroopers coming from the direction of Hostomel and Chernobyl. Our guys resisted, and then they dropped air bombs on the city.

My children left on the morning of March 3, they had time to leave the city. There were no Russians yet at that time. And on the 3rd, in the afternoon, a large convoy came into the city. They were coming from the direction of Chornobyl, through the "Staryky" area. There's a cemetery, a church there. Battles were going on there.

In Borodyanka, mostly old and disabled people stayed. Young people almost all left. If the Russians come back here again, I don't think we'll survive it". I reassure Lyudmila and tell her that the AFU has liberated the Kyiv region from the aggressors, and this seems to be the best news for a person long cut off from civilization by the lack of communication and the Internet.

Tetyana first wonders if I am Russian, given that I had to speak in Russian with Lyudmila. But my answer in Ukrainian makes her smile - a rare occurrence among locals, who have lived through the worst days of their lives. The woman asks me where I'm going, and when I talk about the stadium, she warns me that a large shell hasn't exploded there, and therefore I need to be especially vigilant in those parts.

Tatiana already has advice on who the state should give a medal to after the war is over: "A woman Olya cooks food for the whole array. She makes hot soups in a cauldron on the fire and more. Every day she figures out how to get food and cooks for the whole community. To feed everyone who stayed in town.

"When it all started, people from all over the city started coming to us. Both diabetics, and a family of seven with four autistic children, and a young family of six who moved from Ivano-Frankivsk - we clothed everyone, warmed them, shared mattresses, cooked food for everyone. The day before the Russians left here, they captured a convoy with humanitarian aid that was on its way from Radomyshl.

The Russians drove into town and immediately walked through the churches. They wanted to check if snipers were hiding in bell towers.

We were very much oppressed by Buryats here. They interrogated our guys in front of us every day. They were pointing their guns at them. They were inadequate. Either under the influence of alcohol or drugs. You couldn't even talk to them. One Buryat came to a neighbour in my presence and said: "You live too well here!" And started shooting through the house, the car, the valuable property. I don't think normal people are capable of that. It was like they were doing it all out of envy.

Finally, Tetyana asks if I can call her son Anton and tell him that she is alive. According to her, he lived near Bucha and was just about to propose to his girlfriend. They were to leave there with the first events of Russian military aggression. I write down the phone number and assure her that I will try to contact him as soon as I am in an area with cell service. In addition, we share selfies so that we have something to send to Anton as proof of my words.

After that, I leave Borodyanka. The town is still closed to entry and the process of de-mining is underway. I take with me a collection of photographs that will make me have terrible memories of the war for a long time.

P.S. I returned to Kyiv and called the phone number Tatiana gave me. Anton picked up the phone and thanked me for the news about my mother. It seems that I managed not just to shoot a report about the war, but to make one Ukrainian family, who had suffered from Russian orcs, happier. So it was not all in vain.