DMYTRIVKA, Ukraine, April 1 – Plumes of smoke continue to rise from the smoldering wrecked tanks. General manager Leonid Vereshchagin weaves past the charred bodies of Russian troops in this Ukrainian hamlet after living what he calls hell on earth.
For a month, he and his wife took refuge in a friend’s basement in Dmytrivka, some 35km west of Kyiv, as Russian troops advanced and occupied the area, taking over the homes of some of his neighbors.
Most of the 300 residents left, but about a third stayed and lived alongside the Russians, whose tanks patrolled day and night.
“They went to our houses. Those houses that were closed, they opened them, they just smashed the windows and tried to open the doors,” he said, returning to his village on Friday. “We were with them when they visited houses, they tried to open cupboards.”
“I have a very brave wife, she watched them and told them not to take anything,” he added, sitting in the same basement where he had crouched. Several mattresses lay on the floor and next to them were shelves with provisions.
Three days ago, while the Russians were patrolling the area, Ukrainian troops arrived. When the Russians unsuspectingly returned, there was a fierce battle. Vereshchagin and his wife escaped in a car through the forest during a brief lull in the fighting.
Some houses in the chic residential area were completely destroyed. In the yard of one a deer crouched, badly wounded by shells, raw flesh exposed where patches of fur had been burned.
“Hell began on the evening of March 29,” Vereshchagin said. “We heard tanks firing at us from one side, and there was a massive mortar shelling coming from the Bucha area,” he added, referring to a town in the north.
“It’s like you have a casque (helmet) and someone hits you with a hammer from above.”
The pungent smell of damp vegetation hangs heavily in the air. A fog shrouds the countryside, a patchwork quilt of fields and woodland.
Reuters correspondents saw the remains of eight Russian soldiers next to wrecked tanks on the road that ran through the hamlet.
One had been decapitated by an explosion. His naked body lay nearby, his feet blown away and a blackened arm still stretched upward as if time had frozen.
“You see that the enemy overestimates its potential, at least around Kyiv. And we continue to liberate our cities and evacuate our people,” Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin said. “The first task is to restore public order to ensure water, food, electricity and communications,” he added.
In the north, near the Belarusian border, is the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
“According to our reconnaissance, the Russians have left Chernobyl, but we should be aware of any unpleasant surprises that may be hidden there,” Yenin said.
Vereshchagin dismisses Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reasons for the invasion – liberating neo-Nazis and protecting Russians in Ukraine. Although he was born in Ukraine, his native language is Russian.
“As a Russian-speaking Ukrainian, I have never encountered any problems in Ukraine,” he said.
“Definitely neither I nor any of my Russian-speaking friends were waiting for a Salvation Army that was completely bogus and paranoia.”
writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Diane Craft