Borodianka, a city in ruins after the withdrawal of the Russians: “We don’t know how many dead there are in the cellars”

Following the withdrawal of Russian troops last week, Borodianka, a town ukrainian on the outskirts of kyiv, it shows the signs of violence, with destroyed buildings, clothes on trees or burned tanks.

A road trip through this unassuming Ukrainian town is now an absurdly sinister procession.

An apartment building was hollowed out by an explosion, a sooty mattress hanging in the open air. A burned tank is standing in the bowels of a destroyed building. There are toys lying on the streettoo many to count.

Nothing is where it should be and some houses just aren’t there anymore.

A man walks past a fragment of explosive devices scattered on a street where destroyed buildings are seen in the city of Borodianka, northwest of kyiv, Ukraine, on April 4, 2022. (Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

The Russian withdrawal last week left traces of the battle waged to control Borodianka50 km northwest of Kyivthe Ukrainian capital.

On the muddy central road, Mykola Kazmyrenko pushes a supermarket cart with aid packages without understanding what happened.

“I can’t even look at it, it makes me cry,” comments the 57-year-old man. “People were left homeless.”

AFP saw no bodies on a brief visit to Borodianka, but residents say many of their neighbors were killed.

People walk past destroyed buildings in the city of Borodianka, northwest of kyiv, on April 4, 2022. (Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

“I know of five civilians who died”, comments Rafik Azimov, 58. “But we don’t know how many more are left in the basements of buildings after the bombings.”

“Love your Ukraine”

In the city of BuchaCome in Borodianka and kyiv, the AFP observed on Saturday 20 corpses in a single street.

In the case of Borodiankaalthough the human cost is not clear, the devastation seems more important.

Most of the windows are broken, and signs of the life that raged inside are now visible from outside: a fridge with magnets, a brown oriental rug hanging on a wall, or untouched kitchen knives.

A Russian armored personnel carrier (APC) destroyed in the central square of the city of Borodianka, northwest of kyiv, on April 4, 2022. (Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

In a nine-story apartment building, entire rooms disappeared. Only wallpaper remains: brown on the fourth floor, blue on the fifth, gold on the sixth.

Through a hole in the building you can see the sky. Now these houses are crumbling bricks and twisted metal, at the mercy of the Ukrainian wind.

As you walk you can hear the sound of breaking glass and there are cats meowing among the ruins. The grass of the gazebo located at the entrance to the city is burned by the tracks of the tanks.

The mobile phone is not working but two people went up to the top of an apartment block looking for a signal.

People walk past destroyed buildings in the city of Borodianka, northwest of kyiv, on April 4, 2022. (Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

Other residents venture into the houses to remove their belongings. But it’s a risk, because the bomb disposal teams haven’t done their job yet.

In the central square, the bust of the poet Taras Shevchenko, an icon of Ukrainian culture, stands. But above his eyebrow and in his head there are two bullet holes.

The verse inscribed below reads: “Love your Ukraine, love her. In the fierce times and in the last of the difficult moments”.

“Atrocities”

Valentyna Petrenko has traveled from a nearby town to bear witness to what happened.

“When the Russians came they took our mobile phones and ransacked our houses. We try to behave normally with them so as not to provoke them,” said the 67-year-old woman.

A woman carries her bicycle in front of destroyed buildings in the city of Borodianka, northwest of kyiv, on April 4, 2022. (Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

“A missile fell on our town, my house was left in ruins”, said. “The Russians committed atrocities, many atrocities.”

Volodymyr Nahornyi sets out on his bike from Borodianka but must abandon it on a destroyed bridge, making his way through the ruins, now impassable to vehicles.

As he crosses he meets Petrenko and looks towards the place he came from, the destroyed city.

“All the apartments were robbed and vandalized”, said. “Everything is in ruins, everything damaged.” “I buried six people. Many more are under the ruins.”

Source: Elcomercio