Ukraine: Scars of Occupation Run Deep

Anastasia Rokytna

War correspondent

Tuesday, 31 January, 2023

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Nine-year-old Vanka hides behind his grandmother Ivanna, refusing to make eye contact, his hands curled into fists. Having lived through the Russian occupation of his village of Bobrovyi Kut in the Kherson region, the young boy is suspicious of all strangers.

Ivanna explains that he had seen terrible things during the long months before the Ukrainian forces liberated the area last November.

“When he hears the sounds of planes, he immediately runs to the house, screaming that he should go down to the basement,” she continued. “I tell him it's all right, they’re ours. And he still can't get used to it.”

Life is slowly approaching something close to normal in the liberated parts of the southern region of Ukraine.

Although Russian forces still launch regular artillery attacks on the right bank of the Dnipro river, state services are functioning, businesses beginning to re-open and displaced people are returning.

Volunteer groups have begun repairing houses and distributing aid to the villagers, recruiting local people to deliver food packages to their neighbours.

But those who lived through the occupation - many said they simply had nowhere to run to – the experience has left physical and emotional scars that will take a long time to heal.

"It's still hard to believe that this happened to us."

“I was at home with my son and two grandchildren,” Ivanna said, recalling the day that the occupying forces rolled into Bobrovyi Kut. “Russian soldiers came and demanded we give them our car. We refused. They started shooting in the air with a machine gun and screaming. Then they took the eldest grandson and son to the basement. They said that they would not let them go until the car was given to them.”

On the next street, a family with five children tried to protect them from the Russian soldiers by keeping them indoors. They spent much of their time hiding in the basement; they are also now traumatised by their time in near-captivity.

“There was nowhere to evacuate to,” said the grandmother, who declined to give her name. “We decided to stay at home, at least here there is a place to live.”

Others who stayed experienced violence and torture. Men suspected of pro-Ukrainian sentiments were frequently taken to the so-called “basements” – makeshift detention centres where they were brutally interrogated.

Village resident Serhii said that some former prisoners returned without fingernails; the Russian soldiers had ripped them out with pliers.

At other times, the troops would stage mock executions, forcing a group of people on to their knees and opening fire over their heads.

“They just liked to feel the power,” he said, beginning to cry.

Serhii said that his wife had died just before the full-scale Russian invasion and he spent months living alone in their partly-destroyed house. Looting and robbery was widespread.  He is still terrified that the Russians will return.

When the Ukrainian military liberated the village, they brought food and other essential supplies for the locals, who had lived in conditions of humanitarian crisis throughout the months of occupation.

Oleksandr, a serviceman with the marines, was among the first to enter the village after fierce fighting with the Russian forces to unseat them.

He said that Russians had made no efforts to protect civilians, firing tank shells directly at people’s houses. Every building in the village had sustained some damage; most had broken windows, some lacked a roof or walls. 

Oleksandr said that the soldiers had handed out food and warm clothes to the villagers, who then often invited them for homemade meals to share their meagre supplies.

“When our boys came, we couldn't believe it was over,” said Bobrovyi Kut resident Kateryna. “We are so grateful. It is still hard to believe that this happened to us."