Borodyankan Residents Struggle to Recover From Horrors of War

KOMPAS/KRIS RAZIANTO MADA (RAZ)

One of the destroyed flats in Borodyanka, Kyiv Province, Ukraine, Friday (17/6/2022).

After playing on a playground slide, Artem (7) ran to his mother Olga as she staggered on hearing the sound of an explosion. Artem was still traumatized from the sound of gunfire and explosions he had heard when Borodyanka, around 60 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, was targeted by heavy shelling from Russian troops in March. At that time, Borodyanka, a town in Kyiv province, was under siege by Russian troops.

"He asked if it was safe to keep playing, I said it's OK. [The explosion] was from us [Ukrainian armed forces]. There is no more war,” Olga said when we met her at a downtown park on Friday afternoon (17/6/2022).

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Olga is married to a firefighter. She said she had received news about the authorities’ efforts to defuse land mines and other explosives left after the battle. "Maybe it's a few kilometers from here, far away in the forested interior," she said.

The Russian military invaded Ukraine on 24 Feb.

After his mother calmed him down, Artem went back to playing with the other children. Across the playground are four apartment blocks that have suffered massive destruction from shelling in the early weeks of the Russian offensive. The Russian military invaded Ukraine on 24 Feb.

The apartments were heavily struck by artillery, missiles from fighter jets and tank shells during the Russian attack. The two blocks in the middle had been flattened to the ground.

On the streets, many shops and houses still look vacant, the walls riddled with bullet holes made by rifles and heavy machine guns. Broken glass surrounds an abandoned building.

Russian troops began to sweep and lay siege to Borodyanka from late February to March, forcing droves of residents to flee to other cities and provinces. Among them were Olga and her son. Her firefighter husband remained in the city on standby to assist the army and volunteer militia. "Emergency [firefighters] were told to stay in their jobs," Olga responded, when asked if her husband had been called on to take up arms.

As the Russians were forced to withdraw from Borodyanka and other cities around Kyiv and Ukrainian troops began to take control, the residents drifted back from their evacuation camps. They were shocked at the scale of the damage.

That afternoon, while accompanying her son to the playground, Olga sat with Lubov, an elderly woman in her 60s. They sat next to each other, not far from the playing children.

KOMPAS/HARRY SUSILO

Children play in the field opposite an apartment that was destroyed by a Russian missile in Borodyanka, Kyiv province, Ukraine, June 17, 2022.

Suddenly, tears rolled down Lubov’s cheeks. The grey-haired woman cried silently for around 15 minutes. Every now and then she wiped at her tears. Olga's eyes also filled with tears.

“I have lived here for more than 45 years. The life I know is here. Now, I don't know anymore [what’s next],” Lubov said after she had her emotions under control.

She said the war had left her house partly collapsed and she did not know when or how she would repair it. She said she would not be able to do it herself.

Lubov joked with Olga that the younger woman did not know as much as she did about the city, saying that she had been around long before Olga was born. The fact that the city had been devastated by the war seemed unthinkable to her.

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Since the fighting had subsided, the two have frequently met at the playground, sharing their stories and hoping that doing so could ease their suffering from the war.

Horror of attacks

The war has also left Galina Zadoroznya (55) bitter. She remembers the horrific situation in the city when it was under siege by Russian troops from late February to March. As winter came to an end, freezing temperatures still gripped the city. She was puzzled by the sudden explosions as a flurry of Russian missiles destroyed several apartments and killed residents inside.

On 1 March, Russian tanks entered the city, escorted by infantry troops armed with automatic rifles. A day later, a Russian missile destroyed an apartment building opposite the playground.

Zadoroznya said the shelling killed many people. "We were so scared. Explosions were everywhere. A lot of Russian tanks entered this city,” she recalled.

She said she was overcome by panic. Her son and daughter-in-law, with whom she was living, advised her to evacuate immediately. On 6 March, along with several other residents, she left on foot to the countryside, 15 kilometers from downtown Borodyanka.

After waiting for some time in a village, Zadoroznya boarded a vehicle that transported the evacuees to Vinnytsa province, 244 kilometers to the south of Borodyanka. Her son and daughter-in-law fled to Kyiv.

The aftermath of the war had left her uncertain about how she was going to repair her house amid the dire financial situation.

Born and raised in Borodyanka, Zadoroznya said the extent of the damage the Russian aggression had done to her city was unimaginable. The aftermath of the war had left her uncertain about how she was going to repair her house amid the dire financial situation.

Zadoroznya returned to Borodyanka at the end of May. So did her son and daughter-in-law.

“I missed my children and grandchildren," she said. She was among the townsfolk who were cherishing the return of peace to the city.

As an 8-year-old, Zadoroznya spent her youth under the glory of the former Soviet Union. Some of the buildings in Borodyanka were built when Ukraine, the largest enclave in the former Soviet Union, was still part of the federation. Now, most of the buildings had been turned into rubble by Russian missile strikes.

Drifting back to life

On Friday (17/6/2022), the evacuees who had returned again packed every corner of the city. Some cleaned up and occupied their lightly damaged apartments. Those whose homes had been destroyed traveled to the homes of family members or relatives.

Damaged vehicles are piling up on the roadsides.

Scenes of destruction are found in almost every corner of the city. Many apartment buildings are in ruins. Other buildings show bullet holes in the windows. Damaged vehicles are piling up on the roadsides.

However, a number of minimarkets, kiosks and used goods markets have started to open. Residents are drifting back to resuming their daily activities. Some people were seen buying various basic needs, while young men fished at the river. Others enjoyed biking.

KOMPAS/KRIS RAZIANTO MADA

Part of the remains belonging to residents of a destroyed flat in Borodyanka, Kyiv Province, Friday (17/6/2022). This flat was destroyed by bombs and Russian artillery attacks on March 2, 2022.

That Friday afternoon, the bitter memories of the war might still be lingering, but Artem and the other children looked happy as they played in the playground overlooking the destroyed apartment blocks. They played on the slide, swings, and seesaw, or just ran around joyously.

Olga and the other parents were watching them carefully. They seemed relieved to see their children slowly recovering from the trauma of the war that is still raging in other parts of Ukraine.

As the residents returned from the refugee camps and some areas again became crowded, along with the children in the playground, showed that life was returning to the city.

It is not only the children, and Olga, Zadoroznya, and Lubov are also trying to come to terms with the horrors of war. They felt some relief that Borodyanka was coming back to life. As the residents returned from the refugee camps and some areas again became crowded, along with the children in the playground, showed that life was returning to the city.

KOMPAS

Kompas journalists Harry Susilo and Kris Mada visit Borodyanka, Ukraine, 17 June 2022. Borodyanka town is about 60 kilometers northwest of Kyiv City, Ukraine. The city became a battleground for Russia and Ukraine from March to early April 2022.

However, Zadoroznya’s mind was elsewhere, fearing a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war. If the war continued, how long would it be before she and her family could start living in peace again?

(This article was translated by Musthofid)