Mannequins, knives, looting… Confessions of a resident of a hard-hit area inhabited by Russian soldiers

‘The house we were living in seemed to have been inhabited by Russian soldiers. Left behind were moldy cans of borscht and leftover portable food ……. Safety boxes were pried open and valuables and my wife’s coat were stolen. My private car was vandalized and the letter ‘V’ was scribbled on it.”

The Ukrainian government has been trying to protect the people of Makaryu, the capital city of Ukraine, from the Russian Federation and Ukraine,” said Yury, a resident who was evacuated from Makaryu, near the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

Makaryu was the scene of a fierce battle between Russia and Ukraine. Many residents were killed, and at least 140 bodies have been found. The Russian army did not only attack civilians. They also went into homes and behaved as they pleased. The Russian army was not only attacking civilians, but also entering homes and behaving as they pleased,” Yury said.

The fighting in Makaryu began on February 27. Sixteen people (seven adults and nine children), including neighbors, were hiding in my house. The Russians shelled our houses daily, and on March 2 the attacks became so intense that we decided to flee the city.

According to our neighbors, after our escape, Russian soldiers took up residence in our house. They said they were not young soldiers, but older officers. The kitchen was ransacked and several knives were stuck in the mannequins in the house. Gates and windows had also been broken. I don’t understand what the Russians wanted to do.

They would shoot us as soon as we got out.”

Makaryu is not the only place where Russian soldiers have used Ukrainian residents’ homes without their permission and gone to the limit of their brutality. Similar brutality occurred in another town, Bucha, near Kiev. Alexei, a resident of Bucha, told us.

The fighting became so fierce right from the start of the Russian invasion that we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. There was no water or electricity, and we could not sleep at night because of the sounds of aircraft flying overhead and explosions. It was common to wait in line for four to five hours in front of a supermarket to buy bread. Sometimes I had to wait for two whole days.

I lived in an apartment, but when the Russian soldiers appeared in Bucha, they chased all the residents into the basement. They threatened to shoot us if we came out. In fact, those who escaped went missing. …… The room was inhabited by Russian soldiers instead of us. They turned over all the objects inside and stole the valuables and destroyed everything else.”

After the Russian army withdrew, destroyed cars and bodies were left in the city. Alexei’s room was also in a state of disrepair, he said.

It had just been renovated late last year,” he said, “but the walls were falling apart and the furniture was scratched. The room appeared to have been occupied by several Russian soldiers. There were about 200 liquor bottles lying around that were believed to have been stolen from the store. The items stolen were diverse. Jewelry, money, laptops, TVs, clothes, shoes, climbing gear, fishing gear ……. We don’t have a complete picture of everything, so I’m sure there are other things that were stolen.”

The Russian soldiers destroyed not only the city but also the infrastructure of the residents’ lives. Their brutality is gradually being revealed.