Deoccupied villages

26.4

Just after five, I woke up to a loud bang. Sounded like a anti-aircraft gun. The fligh alarme was blaring outside our hotel. A projectile had hit next to a multistorey building. No injuries, but all windows were shattered.

Later in the morning, we met Artem Rakitin. Known, famous, and heavily decorated in Ukraine for having evacuated 25,000 women and children during the Russian siege of Chernihiv. He was also one of the commando soldiers who retook Snake Island from the Russians.

You can find more about him in a blog post from the trip in October last year.

Ross, our participant from Australia asked a question:

• How will it go in the war?

• I am pessimistic, answered Artem. We have a severe shortage of personnel in the military, and people in general are tired of constantly living under threat.

  For Russia it is easier. Boys of 18 years are indoctrinated by nationalistic propaganda. 60% of them voluntarily accept to fight in Ukraine and the priests are preaching that it is a divine deed to die for one's motherland. We can accept land for peace, but the Russians can never be trusted. Nor can we trust guarantees from the EU or NATO.

  He also believes that Russia will attack the Baltic countries in three years. Do remember that Artem told you this!

  
  

  After having his eye injured by grenade shrapnel, he has left the military and now organizes wilderness camps for young people, but still has assignments for the military intelligence service.

Everywhere they want a group photo

The mayor of Ivanivka

By bus to Ivanivka District south of Chernihiv. Olena Shvydka, the mayor of the district, meets us. In Ukraine, mayors are elected for six years. She was only 26 years old when she was first elected and has been re-elected for a third term. On February 24, 2022, the phone rang at five in the morning. Large Russian forces had crossed the border from Belarus. The war had begun!

On the way to the office, her car was hit by a shell. She was unharmed, but her clothes were torn. Several of her villages were occupied by the Russians. "Soon you will see what the Russians did in Lukashivka". But remember that similar terror, and even worse, also occurred in other villages. The Russians asked for her, but everyone replied, at gunpoint, that she had fled to Poland. If found, they would have shot her.

Olena. Note the flags, EU, Chernivska Oblast and Ukranian

After a month the Ukrainian army arrived. She could now return to her now completely destroyed home. Only three graves with dead relatives remained.

Homestay in Lukashivka village

The weather was bad. Rain and storm in the gusts. I was freezing and later got pain in my throat. In Lukashivka we were shown the basement of the school where 368 villagers between 1 month (survived) and 93 years (died), were kept for 27 days with little food, to buckets for latrine, no heating and complete darkness. They had a space of 50 x 50 cm per person.

Ivan Petrovich told us of the horrors in the basement

While they were in captivity the Russian soldiers used their houses for a comfortable lodging. Returning home after being free their homes were in a mess. They had defected in Ivans sofa. Much was stolen.

In the basement, They had counted the days by writing on the door. To the left are the names of those who were shot. To the right those who succumed in the basement

What a party!

Splitting in groups of 2 - 5 we stayed with different families. Boel, Gunnar, Pontus, Pelle and Mikael stayed with Nadja, a widow. She opened her home with open arms. Boel told me they were served an exquisite dinner. First borscht, then chicken, duck, fish, vegetables, honey - everything from her own little farm. At least four bottles of vodka were emptied during the evening. Not the strongest kind, though. Another went for breakfast. At night, everyone slept unusually well.

"Nadja didn’t know any English, we didn’t know any Ukrainian, but we talked and laughed all evening,"

Paying when you come as a guest is unthinkable. We brought small gifts. From Boel, she received a large package of crispbread, a tube of Kalles caviar, and an egg slicer, such things do not exist in Ukraine.

Paying when you come as a guest is unthinkable. We brought small gifts. From Boel, she received a large package of Leksands crispbread, a tube of caviar, and an egg slicer, such things do not exist in Ukraine.