Borodyanka is an urban-type settlement in the Kyiv region, which witnessed the cruelty of the Russian occupiers. In March 2022, the genocide of the Ukrainian citizens took place here. Local residents went through bombings, shootings, hangings, torture. During the Russian occupation, more than 80 people were killed in Borodyanka. They were found under the rubble of their own houses. Ukrainians died in their homes, unable to receive medical care.
Today Borodyanka is turning back to life. Children’s laughter can be heard on the streets of the settlement and business is starting to work. But the wounds of war have not healed yet and are visible to the naked eye.
There is a monument to the national poet Taras Shevchenko in the center of the village. It is mutilated by the bullets of Russian soldiers. But it survived, and Shevchenko continues to look with regret at the completely destroyed houses where people lived.
In the park near the central square sits a woman who survived the occupation of her village. She sits and looks at the ruins of the house where she lived her whole life. There were children’s photos, favorite and valuable things there. In March, her life completely stopped. Everything she had is buried under the rubble of the house. This woman has nowhere to go, she does not want to leave her village and stays on her land. Her eyes are full of pain.
She comes to this park every day and remembers her past life before the war. She had plans, hopes, memories, and now she has only ruins. She has no home, she does not know where to go and what to do next. She has only one question in her eyes: why did they do this to us, we did nothing bad to the Russians. There was no reason to destroy Borodyanka, civilians did not threaten anyone. Ukrainians were tortured and killed only because they wanted to live freely on their land.
There are a lot of such stories. When you enter a destroyed apartment and see an undercooked dinner on the stove, you understand that these people’s lives ended suddenly. All their belongings, memories, values were destroyed under Russian shelling and they will never return. Borodyanka lives and works, but the wounds caused by the war do not heal. This cannot be forgotten and forgiven. The pain of people who survived the Russian occupation will remain here forever.
The Ukrainian flag flies in the settlement center and gives hope that life will revive here, children of war will grow up. They will not be carefree and completely happy, they will remember how they spent a month under fire in the basement without heat, light and food. But they will grow up free on Ukrainian land, because their parents died for their freedom. They will know the cost of independence and will continue to fight for it.
We previously wrote about Ukrainian Bucha and Irpin today.
Text, photo by Olga Kurshevska
