“Why did they do that to us?”

Vokzalna Street in the small town of Bucha came to those looking for a quiet life, with tired prices and the exciting pace of Kiev. Life was so pleasant there, 27 kilometers northwest of the Ukrainian capital, that this place was known as “Little Switzerland”.

Today, some pictures of the destruction caused by Vladimir Putin’s propaganda war in Ukraine show burned Vokzalna Street, with its dilapidated houses, and the dismantling of military equipment covering the swamp that has become an old road.

It is hard to imagine that anyone could have survived the attack launched by both sides on Vokzalna when there was apparently a fierce battle on the way to Kiev. There is neither a brick undamaged nor a piece of mud where blood is not mixed. But now that the Russians are gone, the Vokzalnas come out of the cellars tired, in tears, and angry.

One of them is 43-year-old Sergi Savvenko, who lives with his 72-year-old mother at 35 Vokzalna Street, pictured above (like the other houses on the now ruined street). Savvenko began counting Russian armored vehicles when, at 9:10 a.m. on February 27, they began marching south toward the neighboring town of Irpin and the capital. “There were 70 armored vehicles, like tanks, and Russian soldiers were walking by,” he said. “It took about 40 minutes to walk in front of our house. I watched and counted. “Then the Ukrainians fired shells at the Russians.”

The first shell hit Savenko’s shed in his wide yard. It was the first of many. The armor was very vulnerable, panicking as they tried to turn around as the next, more accurate wave of shells rained down on them.

What followed was a half-hour of destruction. Flying hot metal pieces shattered all the glass and set the trees on fire, leaving the cars on fire and heated. The corpses of the Russians were thrown on the road. In front of the hedge of Svenko’s house, about 30 meters long, nine armored vehicles were burned and destroyed, leaving a place with a pungent smell of burnt oil and metal.

The Russians, who managed to escape, did so. But an hour after the Ukrainian counterattack, they returned to search for their dead and set up positions in the Vokzalna Gardens and its buildings for surviving shelter, from which artillery fire was fired at Ukrainian defenders. It will be a long and brutal occupation.

“We were in our basement all the time,” Savenko said. “The Russians lit a fire in the front garden and prepared weapons there. One of them arrived at the warehouse and saw us. He told us to shut up. He said he was a good guy, but his teammates knelt down and shot us. They took our phones and told us not to light a fire, as if we could send a signal. ”

Another neighbor on the abandoned street is 62-year-old Zinaida, who has been sheltering in the basement since March 5. He is standing in front of the house at number 31, holding a record in his hand and tears are falling on his face. The Ukrainian army found his son-in-law’s body in a corner on Sunday. Zinaida is going to tell her daughter and 16-year-old granddaughter that they have been evacuated. The only thing they knew about him before was that he was missing. There is no internet in Bucha, as in all Russian-occupied cities during the “special military operation”.

“My daughter asked me to come out of the basement to collect something from a neighbor’s house,” Zinaida said. “Here’s his note, [mi yerno] He had: “Cigarettes on the sofa shelf, pills, food, slippers, blanket.” He left the house on March 4th. He only walked 20 meters and was killed by the Russians. Without warning, without cause. He was a good father, he loved his son very much. He is disabled. How do I tell him? ”

Watch the world disappear

At number 27, on the same side of the street is a newly built building. Ivan, 55, and Helen, 50, who did not want to be named, are clearing the community porch of glass, fragments of shells and unexploded ordnance. This is what they did throughout the ordeal. They only lived there for three months when it started. Of the eight families living in the building, only they remained. They had no other choice.

“We were cleaning, cleaning … we still do not have a basement. “We wanted to show that we were not afraid, I do not know,” said Ivan. “But do you see that tall building over there?” Behold, there was a sniper who was angry because we were not afraid and we did not whine. That’s how it was shot at us. ”

There are still traces of wet blood between the metal and glass on the floor of a neighbor’s apartment. Also on the kitchen table. Judging by the packaging of discarded food, it’s the blood of Russian soldiers hiding there.

Across the street, at number 32, only a few remnants of the wall remain. Next to it, frame what was in the garage. Volodymyr Matsky, 62, his wife Lidmila, and their sons Artem and Bodgan, 33 and 20, took refuge in the basement as the world disappeared. They were evacuated. The wounded Russian soldier, who was taken there for treatment, was not so lucky. According to Dimitro Zamogiln, 56, a resident of Lidmila and Volodymyr, “the bomb fell on the house and killed him.”

Alexander Loza, 87, was found on the floor of room number 23, dressed in pajamas and was unable to move from there after the first fight on February 27. Evacuated. A direct attack by 65-year-old Galino and 66-year-old Oleksandr destroyed the beautiful green roof of their house at 25, right next door. The shelters in the basement miraculously survived. They were primarily responsible for caring for a neighbor’s older friend.

“Genocide”

Bucha is a carbohydrate, empty horror where civilian corpses continue to be found. Authorities this Monday took the bodies of five men from the basement of a children’s summer residence who were apparently assembled and shot by Russians. Authorities believe the remains of a man found near the city are the remains of Motizhin Mayor Olga Sukhenka, his wife and their son.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the city on Monday and explained what he had seen on national television. “These are war crimes and the world recognizes them as genocide,” he said, wearing a bulletproof vest and surrounded by military personnel. “We know of thousands who have been killed and tortured, who have had their limbs amputated, women have been raped and children have been killed.

On the corner of Vokzalna Street, where the bodies of 21 civilians were found scattered on one of Bucha’s main roads on Saturday, Sergi Zebenko, 57, and his wife, Elene, 49, are teaching his cousin’s grave in his garden. Dmitry Bernastsky, 59 years old.

“We found his body on March 31 just 150 meters from us and buried it here,” said Helen. “But we do not even know when he was killed, maybe ten days before, when he came to us. He had three bullets in his left leg, one in his heart, one in his lung. It was next to the supermarket. We want to bury it again. He was a pilot of the Ukrainian Air Force. “We want to bury him in his uniform, that’s right,” he said. And he asks, “Why did they do that to us?”

Translated by Francisco de Zarate