Witness: Grandmother asked, «Kill me, but don’t touch the children!» (Video)

As a result of the war, residents of many regions of Ukraine have been left without homes. Their tragic stories are different, but they all have one thing in common – the Russian Federation’s occupying forces are not interested in keeping Ukrainians in their homes, in their cities and villages. These stories are evidence that the goal is not just to change the government in Kyiv. The goal was and remains to cleanse the territory of Ukrainians.

A resident of the village of Peremoha in Kyiv region told how she was left without a home due to the arrival of Russian peacekeepers and how Russian soldiers treated her family.

«There are photos of how it was here», — the resident of Peremoha says, tears streaming down her face.

«A shell hit here?», — asks the journalist.

«A shell», — she replies.

«Were you here?», — asks the journalist, referring to when the shell hit the building.

«No. We evacuated through the first corridor. And when we were already somewhere, probably after a week, after we left, our neighbor called us and said that our house was gone. I called every day to those who stayed here and asked, «What’s going on?», – everything was fine. Then silence, and then they said that everything burned down completely. So we covered a greenhouse there. It was all just… Look, see what we have left», — the owner of the once neat and flourishing home almost cries.

«Look at the shells (fragments from shells – Editor’s note), shrapnel… And yesterday a neighbor found something on the bed. Bricks fell inside… You can come into the house and see», — she invites the journalist to the ruins.

«Did they loot everything first and then there was a fire?», — clarifies the journalist because local residents spoke about massive looting of villagers’ homes.

«Of course. When we were still here, they (Russian soldiers — Editor’s note) walked around, looked around, went into the yard, talked. They looked into the cellar, those who were first. Six men with guns came first, they were calmer, normal. Russians, apparently from the central part of Russia. They checked our phones, we all came out one by one from the cellar. My mother is disabled, she cried: «Don’t shoot us, shoot me, leave the children». There were six of us here. Then they said normally: «Write “Civilians” on the fence, no one else will come to you».

They say: «We came to free you».

«From whom? We live normally».

«Maybe you don’t have food?» (Russian soldiers asked — Editor’s note)

When they came into my cellar, it was just all piled up with food.

«Maybe you don’t have firewood?» (Russian soldiers asked — Editor’s note)

How can we not have firewood – we have plenty. I had everything, everything was complete. We built the house for four years from morning till night. And then those Udmurts or whoever they were… They walked around… And we just left, and they immediately came to us. I think they… We had a window on the second floor that looked out onto the field. Either they shot from there, or they set up an observation post there. And on the garage, either they set up an observation post or shot from there, God knows», — says the owner.

«Come in…»? – she invites the journalist into the burned-down house and shows on the stairs the dishes – all that was left after the Russians. These dishes are all dirty, but the villagers carefully wash them because nothing else is left of their property after March 2022.

«We took out 40 trailers of garbage. All the equipment (that was not stolen by Russian soldiers – Editor’s note) burned down. We had a lot of things. We bought everything because we were going to live here. Then a shell hit here. Everything completely collapsed here. The doors were blocked with bricks from the inside (which fell after the impact – Editor’s note). We already cleaned everything here. This wall, you see, it burned through. We need to demolish it completely», — the owner notes.

A resident of another street in the village of Peremoha also survived the first days of the occupation, and when she left, Russian soldiers

looted her house and then set it on fire. We visited her in early June. The woman and her children had already dismantled their house brick by brick. They carefully stacked everything in the hope of rebuilding their home.

«Everywhere else, the houses are still normal. But here was the epicenter. They hid here. Oh, they did such things… We had to run. We had young girls… We just had to run», — the woman explains.

«But they didn’t hurt anyone?», — the journalist asks.

(sighs heavily) «Well, they didn’t harm anyone, but if we hadn’t run away, they would have. And we ran away… On the 8th (March 8, 2022 – Editor), we ran to the end of the village, where my comrade lives. They (Russian soldiers) didn’t go there because it’s an open field. They hid under our skirts, under the skirts of our homes. They weren’t soldiers, they were like… They had drugs with them, they were drunk. It was horrible, especially these ones (points to narrow eye slits – Editor)», — the woman recounts.

«Buryats?», — the journalist asks.

«Yes», — the woman confirms.

«And how old were they? Young?», — we further inquire.

«Yes, like my grandchildren», — the woman notes.

«And they had no idea that these were civilians?», — the journalist asks.

«We wrote on the gates: «Civilians»? «Children». No one reacted. They were drunk and on drugs. They didn’t understand», — the woman replies.

«And where did they get these drugs? From pharmacies?», — the journalist asks.

«How would I know? Maybe they brought them with them. What pharmacies? They had them with them», — the woman remarks.

«They looted pharmacies», — the journalist comments, and asks. — «And did they set up a tank in your field and install a ‘jammer’?»

«Yes. There was a BTR (armored personnel carrier) here. And where it’s more whitish… that’s the property of people, they placed a machine in the bushes that intercepts signals. They hid… Oh God, to experience this, God forbid», — the woman concludes our conversation. 

During the occupation of Peremoha, more than a dozen local residents were killed. Many were tortured. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has notified Russian army majors Alexander Vasilyev and Maxim Krasnoschekov from the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of Russia’s suspicion of issuing orders to torture the civilian population of Peremoha and the execution of five people.”

Read also:

Witness: Russians did not give us a car, they shot at the house with Grad rockets

Witness: Russians shelled a 5-storey building near Kyiv with Grad rockets (Video)

Witness: How Russians organized carpet bombing in a village in Chernihiv region (Video)