‘My mother died, unable to bear that horror’

My name is Serhii Parfuliuk. I was born in 1982. I live in the village of Moshchun. Before the war I lived with my wife and 8-year-old son.

What was the 24th of February 2022 like for you?

On the 24th of February, we woke up at about 6 am. My wife was just about to go to work, when we suddenly heard explosions and saw a bright glow in the sky. Then we started getting news that the war had started. And around 9 or 10 am, a wave of Russian helicopters flew towards the Hostomel airport. There were a lot of them, we counted about 20 Russian helicopters painted with the letters “V”. They flew so low that we could see the military in them. Then the heavy shelling began.

What happened in the following days?

On the 25th of February, the electricity and mobile communication were cut off and the first bombardments began. Things got worse every day. My family and I were in Moshchun until the 5th of March: my wife, my child, my mother and I hid in our basement, and later — in the basement of our neighbours. Later, together with the locals, we suggested that all the residents of the village, especially women and children, should go to the nearest sanatorium “Pushcha Lіsna”, because there was a big basement and it was possible to hide there in case of next air raids. I took my wife and child there, while I stayed with my mother in Moshchun.

A few days later, the Russian military came to Moshchun: they started shooting. They came in armoured personnel carriers. It was a horror here: constant shelling, the whole village was in flames...

Shells exploded everywhere. One shell landed in my neighbour’s house, right in his vegetable garden, but it did not explode. A shell also flew into my relative’s house and did not explode either. But when the explosions started near “Pushcha Lіsna”, where my wife and son were, I decided that we had to evacuate. We managed to leave together with other residents.

How did you evacuate?

Well, there were no problems with the evacuation, it was just very scary because the shelling was chaotic and it was difficult to determine when it was better to leave. For example, we heard the sound of a drone and we didn’t know if we would have time to leave unnoticed or not. But on the 5th of March, my mother and I drove to “Pushcha Lesna” and picked up my wife and child. My friends and I managed to leave in several cars, although the whole village was heavily shelled.

How and when was your house destroyed?

We were no longer in Moshchun, almost everyone had left the village by then. Nobody saw exactly what had happened. But judging by the shelling, the Russians were firing incendiary shells because everything here was on fire. We found out that our house had been destroyed already in evacuation: we saw it on a BBC report. The house was burnt down!

Before you evacuated, were there battles between the Russian army and the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Moshchun?

Yes, there were battles literally 100 metres from our house in our street. Our soldiers from the Territorial Defence Forces and the Armed Forces of Ukraine were fighting with the Russian army. The shooting was fierce, the whole forest was covered by bullets. The Russians broke through the Irpin river. This is what we saw. And later the locals said that the Russians even reached the centre of the village, that they drove here in their tanks and stole other people’s cars. They set up their headquarters in a neighbour’s two-storey house and lived there for a while. But it was always turbulent here, there were constant battles for Moshchun.

How did you cope emotionally with what was happening?

Emotionally it was very difficult. Mostly I was worried about my family, especially my eight-year-old child, but thank God he is too young to fully understand everything that was happening.

But my mother couldn’t take the horror. Although I managed to evacuate her, she was very ill — it all took its toll on her.

We managed to get to Ternopil (western Ukraine), where she was in intensive care and within a few days my mother died. In general, she could not believe what had happened until the very end because we have relatives in Russia. She couldn’t believe that they had started a war against us....

Has your attitude towards the Russians changed?

It has changed a lot. If I used to think that we were some kind of brotherly nations. Now I can no longer say or think that. I just cannot imagine that one brother decided to go and kill another brother... What did they come to “liberate” us from? From our lives?

Did you have any contact with the Russian military before your evacuation?

No, I did not. At that time, they had just entered our village, were defeated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and withdrew. Later the locals said that the whole nearby road near the forest was covered with their bodies. When I returned to the village, one more body of a dead Russian soldier had just been found here. And there were also three bodies near our house. There was also a lot of ammunition, bullets, first aid kits, chevrons, etc. I also found a Russian body armour with a bullet lodged in it. People said that here was some kind of Russian elite unit: paratroopers.

Are you aware of the war crimes the Russians committed against civilians in Moshchun?

One man who was hiding in a basement was shot. Another man — he had worked as a bus driver — was shot at close range, but miraculously survived. I also know a family which lost their child after the shelling: the girl was simply blown up...

Did you think Russia would launch a full-scale invasion?

I don’t think anyone could have imagined it. Maybe someone suspected it, but in general people could not imagine that. I didn’t believe it either until the day of invasion. I thought they were trying to intimidate us as usual and show how strong they were. To be honest, it was a shock to me that they had started the full-scale war and how quickly their troops were advancing.

Why didn’t you evacuate during the first days of the invasion?

Well, it was difficult to analyse the whole situation adequately at the time. In fact, mobile communications were cut off in Moshchun on the second day of the war. We had almost no information. We were guided only by where the shelling and explosions were loudest. In general, we thought that the Russians would bypass our village and not enter it. But nobody could have imagined that they would do such terrible things here. On the contrary, I heard that people left Kyiv city for the region because they thought it would be safer here than in the city.

How badly was Moshchun damaged?

I think only one house in eight survived, maybe even less. So, 80-90% of the houses were destroyed. Even if some houses survived, they were damaged by shrapnel. After the bombings everything here was on fire.

Where did you go during the evacuation?

We moved to the city of Ternopil. We have friends there. It was quiet there, but it took us a long time to get used to the quiet life... I still react when a car passes by quickly or something falls near me. Emotionally it is still difficult for us...

How did you feel when you heard that Moshchun had been liberated?

I was very happy. We had waited so long for this. But we were not allowed to go back to Moshchun for a long time because it was dangerous. We wanted to come here, even though we knew that our house was destroyed. But this is our land. We really wanted to come home.

What are your plans for the future?

We want to rebuild our house. We have to move on for the sake of our children...

Do you get any help from the government and volunteers?

Mostly we are trying to rebuild on our own, but our friends and volunteers are also helping us. The government helps with financial aid for my wife and child, but that is all we got from them.

What exactly of your property was damaged?

All that is left is the car we evacuated in — but it was damaged by shrapnel — and a wooden swing in the yard. That’s all that’s left.

Translation: International Society for Human Rights (German Section)