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Voices of war
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‘During the evacuation, the Russians pointed machine guns at us’

Olena Atrashkova is a resident of the Kopyliv village in the Kyiv Region. The woman survived the occupation and witnessed the Russians breaking locks and robbing the post office. The shock wave knocked out the door to her house, and she, with the children, had to hide from the bombings with their neighbors. Olena says the worst thing was when nine Russians burst into the summer kitchen while she was there.

‘Mom died on the basement’s steps,’ — Mikhailo Ivanov, Mariupol

Mikhailo worked as a sound engineer at the Mariupol Drama Theater. He was seriously injured in his yard. In conditions of constant shelling and lack of electricity and medicine, Mariupol doctors managed to save Mikhailo’s leg. But there was no one to help his mother.

‘We had a Ukrainian flag hidden in our flat’ — Life in Izium under Russian occupation

Olha Myroshnychenko was born in Izium (Kharkiv Region). The young woman survived a six-month occupation of her home town. She says she always believed the enemy would run away. So she was not afraid to tell the Russians everything she thought about them.

‘Nothing left. Everything was burnt out’

Serhii Radchenko from the village of Makariv is 70 years old. Despite his age, he and his neighbors were forced to independently repair the roof and restore order in the house that had been damaged by Russian shelling. He says the apartment still floods, and sometimes he has to pick out 15 buckets of water.

‘My brother was captured, and my house was bombed out’

During active hostilities, an enemy shell almost destroyed the ancestral house of the village Makariv resident, Volodymyr Tokar. His cousin was captured in Mariupol. The man returned home in the fall of 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange, when 215 Ukrainians were exchanged for Viktor Medvedchuk and 55 occupiers.

Now we are homeless

Halyna Koretska lives with her husband in the village of Kopyliv, Kyiv Region. Barely holding back her tears, Halyna wanders around the house, which two enemy Grads [multiple propelled rockets] destroyed. The woman remembers where the pictures she loved to embroider and the flowerpots were. “But the house is not important,” — says Halyna — “The Russians killed my nephew.”

‘A woman died beside my husband. Her leg was blown off’

“We made a fire outside to cook food or drink tea. We were hungry all the time,” says a resident of Vuhledar (a town in Donetsk Region).

‘We were driving and everything exploded around us’

Olena Petrivna Kulynovych lives in the village of Horenka, Kyiv Region. Her house was hit by an enemy shell. She left Horenka for a while but eventually returned. Now she lives without electricity, water and gas supply...

‘God forbid people would see this...’

Anton Siryk is a resident of the Makariv village in the Kyiv Region. In the first days of the war, enemy artillery began to destroy the settlement. Part of the high-rise building where the family lived was destroyed. “The weather is gray and cloudy, and dogs are running, attacking cats. There is slate lying around; glass and cars are broken,” — this is how the man describes his first impressions of what he saw.

‘They beat my brother on the head with the machine gun butt ...’

Nataliia Atrashkova is a resident of the village of Kopyliv in the Kyiv Region. From the first days of a full-scale war, the town was occupied by the Russians. Natalia escaped from hell, but her brother did not. The invaders killed him.

‘The Mamons tortured my son,’ — a resident of Hroza

Today, the village of Hroza in the Kharkiv Region is known in Ukraine and beyond its borders. On 5 October, a Russian missile killed 59 of its residents. The men, who allegedly pointed lethal weapons at civilians, tortured the son of Larysa Shevchenko (name changed for security reasons).

‘I stole a fuel truck from the Russians’ — a pensioner from Dymer provided fuel for a local hospital

During the occupation, Valentyn Hryshchenko delivered humanitarian aid to his fellow villagers, and even stole a damaged fuel truck from the invaders and delivered its fuel to a local hospital and a nursing home. The Russians captured Valentyn and tortured him in a basement: they hit him with rifle butt and imitated his execution. The fuel truck was later handed over to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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