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

Peremoha village, Brovary district, Kyiv region. During the month-long occupation by Russian troops in
February-March 2022, the situation here was somewhat different than in other areas occupied by  Russian troops. The commander of the Russian army unit initially tried to prevent war crimes. But then  the robberies of civilian homes, torture and executions of people began. There were also rapes, but  allegedly the commander ordered the rapist to be shot on the spot. And if people did not voluntarily give  their property to the occupiers (from cars to underwear), a Grad multiple rocket launcher was driven to  their homes and… the result was recorded on video.

«They liked the car — a Skoda Octavia. But my father did not give it to them. They came three times, and he said: «I won’t give you the car and that». And then in two or three days they started to cover it with  Grad and that was it. This particular street. And five shells hit our barn. Two near the house. The barn  caught fire then», — said a local resident.

«It made no sense for them to hit us with Grad. They  knew that an elderly man lived here. Right?» — the journalist clarifies.

«They knew everything. They didn’t care. They just started to take revenge because they were not given  the car», — says the resident of Peremohy.

The journalist says that these cars were left by her grandfather’s relatives who left the village of  Peremoha in the first days of the occupation. At first they tried to leave by car, but one of the evacuation  convoys was shot by Russian soldiers. So people decided to leave the cars and go on foot through the  forests and fields.

«Those who left the cars, they (Russian soldiers — Ed.) cut the wheels and broke the windows, batteries…  Well, they spoiled the cars», — the young man said.

Before recording the video, the young man said that on the first day of the occupation, Russian soldiers  killed two of their neighbors, so people did not leave in their cars.

«They were driving in the evacuation corridor. There was no «green corridor», they were leaving by  car. They were let through, and then they started shooting at them. At the first and the last car. And they  were in the last car», — the man says about the dead.

«Is that why people didn`t want to leave in their cars?», — the journalist asks again.

«Yes. We also wanted to leave then. And they were walking in blood, rewound (people who tried to leave earlier — Editors). Were going back», — the young man said.

A resident of Peremoha said that she and her daughter lived in a cellar for almost two weeks because  Russian soldiers brought Grad rocket launchers to their garden and fired at Ukrainian army positions  from there, hiding behind the civilian house.

«From February 28 to March 13, we were under occupation. There’s a hole in the roof there, it’s from the debris. I’ll bring you the debris right now. We were here all the time, sleeping in the cellar», — the woman says.

«Why did you sleep in the cellar», — the journalist asks.

«Since March 2, two Grad rockets and one tank have been coming in three times a day. They were  Russian. They were shooting. They sometimes warned us. They warned me when they mined my garden.  Here are the fragments. They mined it with anti-personnel mines. Because they lived over there,  where the house burned down one house over. This piece of shrapnel was in my roof, this one was  in my yard… I slept in the cellar with my child for 10 years. Because here is the field at the end of  our garden. They were setting up equipment there and shooting at our positions in Rusany, in Hohol –  everything flew there. At the churches. Our church was destroyed. Here it is. They hit it three times.  There was also equipment there. Their commander lived in the house across the street. The Security  Service of Ukraine came to us more than once (after the liberation of Peremoha — Ed.), took testimony,  questioned us… There are also small holes in the house and on the roof. On this side, my husband has  already tightened it, because it leaked a little. They came (Russian soldiers — Ed.) and broke down the  door. They took everything out of the house», — the woman says.

«What do you mean: «They took everything out of the house?», — the journalist clarifies.

«We were staying at a neighbor’s house, because as soon as the Russian military entered our village, they  immediately cut off all electricity. They also damaged some gas pipes. That is, we had no  communications. We were staying at a neighbor’s house (the neighbor had a stove – Ed.) and my  daughter said: «The door is open, let’s go». We come up here, and they broke down the door. And they  loaded up pillows, cereals, butter — everything they had from the grocery store», — the woman says.

«I come in: «What are you doing?».

And they said: «We are going to live here».

I said: «No, I live here with my child».

I’m standing there, crying, asking them to please.

They said: «Okay, we’ll take what we need».

One of them is standing with an assault rifle, laughing. He pointed the weapon at me. The Russian  soldier pointed his weapon at me and said: «We will do whatever we want. We came to save you from yours».

I asked: «From whom, from ours?»

«From your Ukrainian Nazis».

I said: «I’m sorry, we don’t need your protection here».

And they answer: «That’s it, sit in silence, you can only come out when we allow you to from 10:00 to  17:00. At other times, do not walk around your yard. Because we can shoot».

Russian soldiers tell us. More than once, when I was crossing the broken fence from my neighbor’s  court, Russian soldiers were walking down the street, shooting in the air and shouting: «Animal, to the cellar!».

This was to stop us from walking down the street. Of course, you ran to the cellar. Once, when we were  sitting in the cellar, they came in with guns. I have a child. The child was crying all the time. They  jumped over the fence and broke the door again. I didn’t close it much after that.

I told the Russians: «You have already taken what you wanted. What else do you need?»

They said: «We need bedding, blankets. We need somewhere to live. Open that house for us, we need a place to sleep».

I said: «This is not my problem».

I stand there, scared, but I say: «This is my house. How would you feel if they came to your house like  this? You also have children, you are alive».

So they turned around and left. Every two days they changed. The first day it was Russians. Then there  were some Belarusians, I think. Because they had no accent. And they had an «O» on their cars. Russian, but without the «cha» and «a» as they speak.

And they told me: «We stood on the border for two months. Then we were given a command. We did not  know where we were going. We didn’t know why we were going».

Then the Buryats came to us. They were narrow-eyed, dark and dirty. They told us that the commander  lived nearby and told us not to touch us. Not to beat us, not to do anything so that he would not see these  crimes. At the other end of the village, we have 100% rape and murder in the village. A young girl  was killed, raped by some Chechen, they say. No one will come and say I was raped. In fact, he raped her,  killed her and buried her. Then they say that the Russians shot him because of this», — the woman said.

The video of this story is available only through the link.

During the occupation of Peremoha, more than a dozen local residents were killed here. Many were  tortured. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has served a notice of suspicion to Russian  majors from the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Army, Alexander Vasiliev and  Maxim Krasnoshchekov, for ordering the torture of Peremoha civilians and the execution of five of them.

Read also:

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Witness: How russian soldiers tortured and killed residents of Staryi Bykiv

How one small NGO, with the help of an EU sub-grant, was able to help hundreds of residents of destroyed towns and villages

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