HUSARIVKA, Ukraine – Crushed tanks in the mud, ruined buildings and grieving families are the sights of a recaptured village in eastern Ukraine, whose residents stare at the price they and their former Russian residents have had to pay.
Last month Ukrainian soldiers were recovering Husarivka, a farming town of 500–600 peacetime residents some 150 km southeast of the city of Kharkivafter heavy fighting following the Russian invasion on February 24.
As Russian forces retreat after failing to capture major cities like Kyiv and Kharkov and attempt to refocus their offensive on the Donbass region in the southeast, residents of the surrounding areas begin a clean-up after weeks of occupation.
Echoing reports of poorly disciplined and poorly supplied Russian forces from elsewhere in northern and eastern Ukraine from which Russians have withdrawn, Nadezhda Syrova, 79, said the young soldiers went from house to house asking for food .
Some of the Russian invaders said they were on an exercise or there to cleanse Ukraine of bandits and “Nazis,” he added, while standing on a piece of land near his home.
“Where do you see bandits and Nazis here? We are normal, peaceful people. Ukrainians,” he said.
Armored personnel carriers and two wrecked Russian anti-aircraft gun carriers lie abandoned in the fields near the village, surrounded by debris such as gas masks, computer printers and soaked shoes.
In the city itself there is a wrecked Russian tank on the street, already rusted and with the turret blown away.
A Ukrainian soldier said fighting went on for about three weeks, with his side using anti-tank weapons, including artillery and Javelin missiles supplied from abroad, eventually driving out two tactical groups from the Russian battalion.
“We went through the enemy right and left, got into good positions and destroyed their equipment,” said the soldier, who spoke to reporters on condition that he be identified only by his nickname, Parker.
He said his unit captured a Russian officer and two scouts from an engineering unit trying to lay mines around the village to stop the Ukrainian attack and had to fend off counterattacks by so-called Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups.
burned bodies
His report could not be independently verified, but at least a dozen destroyed armored vehicles, including tanks with the Russian Armed Forces’ distinctive “Z” markings, remained in the village and surrounding fields.
Ukrainian authorities say their forces have killed nearly 20,000 Russian soldiers and destroyed hundreds of tanks and armored personnel carriers since the invasion began. Other estimates are much lower, but Western officials put the Russian death toll in the thousands.
Ukraine also says hundreds of civilians have died under Russian occupation. Moscow has denied attacking civilians, but locals in Husarivka said several locals were killed or missing.
Three bodies, burned beyond recognition, were recovered from the basement of a house and taken to be examined for possible signs of torture, they said.
The situation in Husarivka matches reports in several villages east of Kharkiv, a mainly Russian-speaking town near Ukraine’s northeastern border that has been under attack from the Russian military since the first days of the war.
Although Russia no longer threatens to invade the city, it has maintained a partial siege and bombarded it with increasing intensity for days.
Kharkiv’s homes and infrastructure have come under attack, killing dozens this week, with more than 60 artillery and rocket attacks in one night. On Friday, Reuters journalists heard mortar fire in areas north of the city.
(Additional reporting by Alkis Konstantinidis; Editing in Spanish by Ricardo Figueroa)