Homestay in deoccupied villages

12.10

We meet with Artem Rakitin. A really big man with a big black beard. Shell fragments caught his eye in the fall of 2023. He talks about the defense of Chernihiv when the city stood against the large Russian armored column that was heading towards the capital during the very first days of the war. The city was besieged for a month before the Russians were forced to retreat to Belarus.

During that time, he led the evacuation of 23,000 civilians along small roads and trails through the forests. Later, he was one of the soldiers who took Snake Island. For the feat, he received a medal from Zelensky. Now a celebrity in Ukraine.

Tells about how important social media was, and probably still is. Here, Russians and Ukrainians could keep in touch. Many had friends and relatives on the other side of the border. The Russians recruited saboteurs for payment and the Ukrainians trawled for traitors.

There is a great shortage of soldiers. Many have fought for years and need relief. After the change in the law that allows men aged 18-23 to leave the country, the situation is difficult. For me, says Artem, it is unacceptable to now leave the country and everything we love. The more people who leave the country, the harder it will be for those of us who are left. The real question is whether you are prepared to die for your country, he continues.

I myself speak Russian at home, but the language has nothing to do with nationality. Just an excuse for Putin to take our country.

What Artem longed for most? - A holiday in Crimea!

Chernihiv has a history of 1300 years. This is the oldest church in Ukraine built around 1030

Göran received a question from Sweden whether there was a peace movement in Ukraine.

The concept of peace is hard to grasp, Artem replied. Yes, everyone longs for peace of course, but we refuse to accept a peace without freedom. Only our victory can guarantee a lasting peace.

The city centre is covered with bricks recovered from bombed houses

Homestay in deoccupied villages

12.10 Most of the villages surrounding Chernihiv were occupied by the Russian forces. Tales of their cruelty are manyfold.

From 3 March until 31 March 2022, the Russian Armed Forces advancing into Ukraine over the Russian and Belarusian borders north of Ukraine halted their advance towards the northern Ukrainianian city of Chernihiv in a village called Yahidne, 15 kilometres outside the centre of Chernihiv.

Bus to the village of Yahidne where the "mayor" (leader of 17 villages with about 7,000 inhabitants) Olena Shvydka received us. At this level of administration, there is a personal election. Olena was elected for a third 5-year term for the Ivanika district. She was 27 years old when she was first elected.

Mayor Olena Shvydka gives a reception to us

The Russian soldiers forced the entire population of Yahidne, about 370 people, into a basement of abour 120 square meters underneath a school, and kept them there for the duration of the occupation, in 28 days.

Here 39 persons were kept in total darkness for 28 days

Of the three hundred people, it is estimated that about 60 were children. Mobile telephones were prohibited; Russian soldiers threatened anyone found with one with execution. The people in the cellar, cramped together in intolerable conditions in which they had less than half a square metre each for almost four weeks, were told that Ukraine's President Zelenskiy had fallen and that Vladimir Putin had now taken over Ukraine. They had no access to information from the outside world, and lived in conditions on unbearable squalor, with no running water, no draining, no access to toilet facilities and no access to light. They were forced to sit in the dark, surviving on the minimal moldy rations the Russians afforded them.

They tried to count the days

We were today given a tour of the basement by one of the people who was inprisoned there together with his wife and ten year old daughter. There was street fighting in the villages outside Chernihiv, many of which were completely destroyed.

About ten people died inside the basement, simply due to malnutrition or because their bodies could not survive the hot, steamy, humid, unsanitory conditions. One resident of the basement was taken out and shot because a journalist's ID was found on him.

A childs drawing in the basement

Stayed with Valery and Natalia

Our group of 19 persons were hosted in groups of 2 - 3 in different families in two villages.

Me, Boel and Göran stayed with Valery and Natalia in their newly renovated house in the village Lukashivka. We were treated with a great dinner with dishes I do not know the names of. They did not know a word of English and our knowledge of Ukranian is limited to simle greetings and a few words. But in company of Google Translate we had an interesting conversation.

After breakfast next day we went to see the church where Russian soldiers had placed their amunition depot. One day they also had a barbecue party feasting on a cow they shot. Presumably there was also a lot of vodka taken from the local shop. One soldier throw a cigarette butt over his shoulder and all the piled up grenades exploded. The roof of the church was blown off.

Gregorii told us about the massive explosion. - There was Russian DNA hanging everywhere in the surrounding trees

We all agreed that this stay with families in the villages was the highlight of the tour. At least so far.