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

In the first days of the war (early March 2022), all residents of a 5-storey residential building in  Kalynivka, Makariv district, Kyiv region, lost their apartments and property. They were not guerrillas,  they were not in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or territorial defense. It was just that their  house was located behind the turn to the Zhytomyr highway, which led to Kyiv. The Ukrainian  authorities told people to leave the area on March 6, when half of Kalynivka was already occupied. This  way, they managed to prevent people from dying as a result of shelling of their homes.

During the occupation of the area by the Russian Federation, Russian soldiers did not think of anything  better than to first shell the house from helicopters, and then bring in a Grad multiple rocket launcher  and destroy all the apartments that could not be reached from the air. In some apartments, two months  after the liberation, there were fragments of rockets that had been fired from a helicopter. All property in  the apartments above the second floor was destroyed. The building was recognized as unfit for  human habitation and is being prepared for demolition.

«When our guys retreated (Ukrainian Armed Forces — Ed.), they (Russian soldiers — Ed.) still had  the upper hand here. They broke down all the doors in the apartments. Some were torn out by the blast  wave when they bombed, and some they broke out with crowbars. Here, this door was broken. I had a  wooden oak door. You can see what’s left», — says the head of a local apartment building co-owners association, who took the journalist to her apartment.

«People had a stationary computer here…», — the journalist describes what she sees in the ashes.

«There were two computers. I had one of my own computers, and the other one was for our  association — I worked on it. Here is a washing machine that my husband took from his sister to repair…  This is how he repaired his sister’s washing machine… I have a freezer and a refrigerator in my  kitchen… You see, even the bathroom – everything burned down. When they hit the window, you can see  in the kitchen — it hit», — the woman shows a hole in the wall in the middle of the apartment. 

«So the house was shot at with direct fire?», — the journalist asks.

«You see, there is a  small hill behind the trees. They were standing on that hill. And it was winter. There was no greenery,  you could see everything. And here, under the house, we had birches, cherries, and pines, and now  it’s as if there were no trees. Everything is mowed down. They beat us a lot. It’s a shame that  our elder brothers, as they said, have come», — the woman sighs.

«We had Buryats and Kadyrovites. Because I was in Berezivka (30 km from Kalynivka – Ed.) with my  mother and my children until March 8. We left Berezivka on March 8. There were Kadyrovites and  Buryats there. The Kadyrovites occupied one side and the Buryats occupied the other. They took  everything from the houses. They took all the tools from my younger son. They wanted to steal the car,  but it was a «smart» car, it wouldn’t start without the keys. And they smashed the  windows of my older son’s house, took a screwdriver, computers, and headphones. They didn’t take anything cooler than that. And we have money here, they were probably looking for  gold. What was there to look for if everything was burned down? It’s a shame, a shame, of course,  but what can you do?», — the woman says.

Another resident of this building also showed her apartment, where nothing was left, and the concrete  wall was cracked by the missile strike.

«There is nothing left. We just had a hit on our apartment. The balconies were hit… That’s  it», – she sighs.

«Of course, there is nowhere for people to go back to», – the journalist said. 

«Be careful, there is glass here, – the landlady says, and then adds. – A mirror, my  favorite mirror. It’s all that’s left. And all my friends recognize me by the mirror. It was so  beautiful. There was a coffee table here. We always stood tall… Nothing is left, nothing at all. The doors  were all smashed by the wave. You see, it was knocked right out of the wall. With an iron box. We were  left with nothing», – the owner of the once beautiful mirror is almost crying.

«A person had a sideboard here. This is all that’s left. This is the chandelier that hung  here», – the journalist shows a pile of broken dishes and chandelier bases.

«There was a sofa here and some chairs. This is what’s left. There were beautiful vases…  Dishes, everything you want was there. There were all kinds of plates. There was a children’s  computer desk, a computer, and my grandchildren studied on it. Everything was there», – the  woman added, sighing heavily.

Over the ten months of war, a total of 149.3 thousand residential buildings were damaged or destroyed.  Among them are 131.4 thousand private houses, 17.5 thousand apartment buildings and 280  dormitories.

These data are published on the website of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).

Read also:

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

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

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