The chaotic scenes in Zaliznychne took place a day before a small group of Ukrainian troops appeared. “They asked me where the Russians lived and where they hid their armored vehicles,” said Dmytro Khrushchenko, 43, standing on a dusty street with a tired-looking neighbor. “I went out and showed them: there, there and on the road over there,” he said, gesturing right, left and in front of him. The testimony offered a rare sense of what has been unfolding, largely out of sight, in dozens of towns, villages and even cities in the Kharkiv region as a bold Ukrainian military offensive recaptures swaths of territory from Russian control in a flash. advance. In Zaliznychne, a poor, rural village surrounded by fields and a railway line, residents appeared dazzled. The significance of what had just happened just three days earlier was still sinking in. Six months of hell Speaking on Sunday, Vasil, 83, said he lived through World War II and then more than six months of hell under the Russians. “It was like hard work,” he said, leaning on a rusty bicycle, which wobbled as it moved because of a set of colorful beads on the spokes. Image: Vasil said he had lived through six months of hell “I used to be healthy but now I have problems with my heart. My wife is disabled, she has diabetes. We had no medicine… I still can’t believe they are gone and we are out of this period of death. “ The Russian withdrawal allowed Ukrainian police teams to move into newly liberated areas to investigate a large number of suspected war crimes committed by Russian troops. Police recalled the scenes of murder, torture and rape found after Russian forces stormed the town of Bukha, outside Kyiv, in March. This was after just one month of ownership. Large parts of the Kharkiv region were under Russian control for six times longer. “According to our information, almost in every village we have war crimes,” Serhii Bolvinov, Kharkiv regional police chief, told Sky News, standing outside a house in Zaliznychne that has become a crime scene. “We are checking the points where they have been reported and will investigate them all.” Woman forced to bury neighbors His team marked a safe path through a patch of overgrown grass to the front gate of the crumbling property, wary of the possibility of Russian mines or traps. Image: Maria found her two neighbors, shot Walking cautiously, the searchers and two gravediggers entered a walled garden around the semi-detached house. A woman who still lives there gestured to a patch of disturbed land where the bodies of two men, one of whom is her next-door neighbor, are buried. Maria Hrichochora, 63, had found them shot dead at home in the early days of Russia’s invasion, but police were unable to reach her at the time because Russian troops had already sealed off the village. Instead, officers advised her to bury the bodies, but kept a record of the suspected war crime to investigate as soon as possible. That day has finally arrived. Analysis: How Ukraine blew a devastating hole in Russia’s defenses – with little fanfare As the police team began digging up the bodies, Maria spoke of how she found the two men, her neighbor, Ilham Mehteev, and a friend of his, Konstiantyn Pohorelov, who had come. They had been shot dead and were lying in the house in a large pool of blood. “It was scary, very, very scary,” she said, her hair covered by a bright red scarf. He did not know why the men had been targeted. Living in the dark Maria described how life during the occupation made an already difficult life even more difficult. He showed Sky News half of the shared property, a small, one-storey house, its windows boarded up to protect the already shattered glass. Shrapnel from an explosion had torn holes in the front door. There was also blast damage to the interior, with a piece torn from the wooden covering for a mirror in the narrow hallway. Maria lives in the dark because there has been no electricity in the village since April. He said he was worried about the coming winter and the possibility of the Russians coming back. Image: Maria is now worried about the coming winter After about an hour, the police finished their work in the garden, loading the two bodies into white bags in the back of a van for forensic examination. The convoy of official cars then proceeded to an industrial site on the outskirts of the village, where they were told of another body. Bodies are left to rot The victim, believed to be a security guard, was also killed during the first days of the war around February 26 or 27 as Russian forces advanced, a police officer said. His body was left to rot, on the top platform of a tall, yellow, metal structure, set next to large piles of asphalt. Image: An industrial area is also a war crime site Police said they did not know why she was killed. They climbed several flights of rickety stairs to reach the body, while an official shuddered at the smell. As carefully as possible, they placed the body in a body bag and brought it down, also placing it in the van. The last stop was at a nearby house. In the back garden was another makeshift grave. Image: Vasil Boronov does not know why his brother was killed Out on the street, a couple approached the police. The man, Vasil Boronov, 55, was the victim’s brother. He said his name was Serhii. He also said he had no idea why his brother was killed, breaking down in tears as police began their work.
