Destruction, cold and trauma from Russian occupation

Just talking about the turquoise blue ceramic jugs makes Galina cry as if she were going up to the house and seeing everything scattered on the floor. He refuses to let anyone take the parts that are still intact in the rubble, after the bombing of his house in Bucha on February 27. He is afraid of re-opening the door that led him home and now the deepest pain awakens him.

The demolition of Bucha houses and buildings, after the departure of Russian troops, can be seen on every street and in all the testimonies of those under occupation for weeks. Already around, signs of destruction are perceived as the distance narrows: burnt floors, houses flattened by shells, bullets to the ground, blood stains, shootings in cafeterias, supermarkets and shops, vending machines. Trade Lying on the ground, what could one day have been a barricade in the fight to rebuild the city.

Neighbors and volunteers stand in her way to collect blankets, bottles of water or something to eat. Because more than ten days have passed since Bucha’s release, citizens living on the outskirts of Kiev in this city still do not have electricity or water. Almost no children or young women are seen, but dozens of old men and women are left and still refuse to live in the basement for more than a month out of the frightened city.

A few pieces of burnt book scattered on the floor, broken glass and ashes. The stairs of the Galina building, a 71-year-old Bucha resident who has been occupied by Russian troops for more than a month and the epicenter of a massacre of civilians, give clues as to what happened in this building, as well as many others, a few days later. Start from the war.

Opening the door, which a woman finds difficult to approach, on the fourth floor, provokes a stream of cold air. The brown cat sneaks inside and walks into the remnants of Galina’s life. There are only rubble and a large piece of metal that looks like shell debris. Among the ruins are cups and jugs that Galina bought with her husband on a business trip to Ukraine. Also dozens of cutlery, several boilers, a bathroom full of debris and a ruined kitchen.

Galina, like most of the month before Bucha’s release, was in a civilian-occupied basement when her home was bombed. He said the first time he saw his condition, he lost consciousness. Second, he took “a small candle, some water, a few lighters.” As well as a few pieces of clothing that he was able to wear and that he now wears on top of each other to avoid the cold, which no one relieves in a city where there is still no electricity and water.

“When I went upstairs, it had two double doors. I opened the first door, then the second. When I saw how everything was, I could not do well. “I was told I was missing and after about five days I did not try to see him again,” said the Septuagint.

– Have you not thought about leaving?

-Where? Where did I go

Due to the Bucha district, the neighbors had more or less clashes with Russian troops during the occupation weeks. “I did not dare to go out when they were around. “We were silent, silent so as not to be disturbed, and I could hardly leave the house and the basement,” Galina said. On one of the streets where the largest presence of Kremlin soldiers is, where the military has settled, they talk about some of the atrocities documented by the press. “We were told they would kill us if we went outside,” said a woman who had been locked up throughout the occupation. “Many people entered their neighbors’ houses and told them to stay in the basement, stripping the men naked if they had any tattoos. “Three civilians were killed on this street just to leave.”

Meeting with Chechen soldiers

According to the city mayor, the bodies of 403 civilians were found dead in Bucha, of which 163 have already been identified. Another 16 people are missing. “Competent bodies will carry out the relevant procedures. 163 people have already been identified. The death toll will rise: police, military, special services will go through all the districts, all the houses, find graves in private places, take the corpses. “There are four small districts left to be cleaned,” he said.

After her release, Galina lives in an empty apartment of one of the families who chose to leave the city, but like most of Bucha’s neighbors, she prefers to stay outside than after the occupants leave home.Russians. “The interior is colder,” said Irina, a friend sitting at a desk chair at the entrance to her building.

Irina says Russian soldiers were harassing Bucha residents and stealing items: “I told them why they were here. I was told for the money. “They were Chechens.” Aren’t you scared? Yes, but I had to. “They told me that if I did not keep silent, they would stick out their tongues,” Irina adds with a proud smile as she carries a few cans of water to share between neighbors.

“Where are we going to go?”

In the streets of Bucha, in order to withstand the cold temperatures that still linger in Kyiv and arrange food preparation, neighbors and volunteers set up homemade stoves and wood stoves outside. At various makeshift stalls, various citizens prepare typical Ukrainian food and coffee to cater to those in need. Others dedicate themselves to cutting firewood to feed the fire, allowing them to warm their hands. They help the elderly and try to cover their basic needs, but it is not always easy.

Some prefer to be on the street, while others choose to live in the basements of a remote city of Kiev, including Sergei and his parents, who are also elderly. Turn on their shelter with an electric generator along with other acquaintances, so dozens of neighbors continue to sleep there despite safety restorations. Now they are seeking refuge from the cold.

Elsewhere in Bucha, on one of the main streets where dozens of corpses and coal tanks appeared after the withdrawal of Russian troops, Luba nervously points to the back of the field and points to a completely destroyed house. He was in the kitchen at the age of 84 when a shell hit his house. He fell and was injured in the rubble. “I found him in blood, he was unconscious,” said a neighbor. They did not go to the doctor for fear of the Russian army, which was already occupying the city at that time. “We took care, where to take it?” Says his fiancée.

He had only a wrist injury, but a great deal of fear in his body. Help is sought by believers who walk with the help of pedestrians. They claim that almost no one came there to help them take the necessary steps after their house was demolished. “How do we ask for help? Where are we going? If we are 80 years old, we are not doing well and neither the phone works, nor Danny, nor anything … ”Ludmila is interested. The woman asks for insulin, surprised to see that the doses are expiring.