Deep below the ranks of a vocational school, hundreds of Ukrainians clung to life in the darkness of a boxing gym for weeks as Russian forces besieged their city, pounding it with rockets and bombs. At one point, nearly 500 people took refuge in this place in Chernihiv, a city without electricity or running water, during the winter months when many homes had no heating. They made candles from sunflower oil, pieces of fabric and cans of sardines. They sat on mattresses playing Monopoly and card games next to the boxing ropes. They divided into groups, each with its own leader, and shared the task: Cleaning the basement. Maintenance of the cottages excavated on the school premises. Empty the cabin containers provided for children and people with mobility problems. Water supply from a nearby river. And they cooked. Watch live updates on the war in Ukraine Butsa residents face consequences of massacre, fearing return of Russian forces Opposite the school, Nina Pinchuk and Lydmila Solokhnenko fed hundreds of people from three pots, resting on concrete blocks over a wood-burning fire. They boiled pasta and made sliced potato soup, chopped carrots and lentils as rockets screamed from above and mortar shells fell on the surrounding town. “When it sounded loud, we crouched down – but we kept cooking,” said Ms. Pinchuk, a pizzeria cook. Once upon a time, attacks on a nearby military base were so close that they fell to the ground in terror. Another time, a rocket landed on a nearby house, dropping debris into the neighborhood. Nevertheless, they kept the pots. “We cook here for the children,” said Ms. Solokhnenko, who before the war worked as a cleaner at a military base. “If we had not cooked, I do not know how it would all have ended.” Marina Momot displays a candle made of sunflower oil, pieces of cloth and a box of sardines inside a bomb shelter in Chernihiv.ANTON SKYBA / The Globe and Mail Chernihiv, a city of 250,000 with one of the most historic centers in Ukraine, is located 60 km from Belarus. It was one of the first places Russian troops arrived during their invasion of Ukraine. When the city refused to bow to an initial attack, Russian forces surrounded it, stifling the flow of goods and firing on those who had fled. Russian forces retreated this week and the road to Chernihiv from Kyiv reopened on Monday. On Wednesday, the works for the restoration of the city had started. The crews gave the electric transmission cable back to the poles. Municipal water started running behind some fountains. The cell phone service flickered in and out. Some residents raised their hands to applaud Ukrainian troops moving tanks and other heavy equipment into the city. But many of the holes in Chernihiv are so deep and so wide that they cannot be easily fixed. The city’s main highway is still closed because bridges have been blown up. Crews on Wednesday also discovered a mine planted under a burnt car. The basement of the vocational school, meanwhile, remains full of people who can no longer return to homes that no longer exist – and reluctant to leave, the frightened Russian forces will regroup and return. People outside no longer feel safe. Igor Biletsky, a teacher who has fought as a reserve in Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, has seen the horror of the consequences of the Russian invasion. “Anyone with a conscience would never act this way,” says Biletsky. ANTON SKYBA / The Globe and Mail Igor Biletsky, a teacher who has fought as a reserve in Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, said the mother of one of his students was killed trying to leave the city. They broke both legs of the student. He was 100 meters away from an attack on people queuing for bread that killed 14. Another attack on a line outside a pharmacy killed 57. The Globe and Mail saw a hospital severely damaged. “Anyone with a conscience would never act in this way,” Biletsky said. Oksana Ohnenko, a local police officer, announced a list of neighborhoods in the Chernihiv region that have been severely damaged: Novoselivka, Kiselivka, Kienka, Ivanivka, Kolychivka, Yaginde, Lukashivka, Bilous, Sloboda, Voznesopya. “It was hell here. “Really,” he said. What the Russian forces did “normal people, a normal nation, would never do. “They just killed people,” he said. “Half of the city’s schools have just been destroyed. And our villages near the city – it’s like we never had these villages. “ Ms Ohnenko heads a youth policing unit. “From the beginning of the war I saw in the eyes of every child: Why? Why? What harm have we done? ‘ Oleksander Vasylenko stands on a crater almost three meters deep that formed after a Russian air raid on his neighborhood on the outskirts of Chernihiv, Ukraine. ANTON SKYBA / The Globe and Mail One of the first rockets to hit the village of Trisvyatska destroyed the swing in the yard of Oleksandr Vasylenko. “The most strategic location in this neighborhood is a children’s playground,” Vasilenko said in a voice full of irony. A bomb that later fell into a neighbor’s backyard left a crater nearly three meters deep. He created a shock wave so strong that he blew the door out of his neighbor’s refrigerator and broke down the doors inside Mr. Vasilenko’s house. Other bombs destroyed the houses so completely that residents could save just over a few socks. A local shopkeeper, Mr. Vasylenko, passed the siege by providing goods to others. When checkpoints were closed to cars, he delivered flour, butter and oil by bicycle. “When you get into a routine like this, there is no time for tears,” he said. As he spoke, his wife cleared debris from the family garden. Soon, they will plant potatoes and cucumbers. Green garlic shoots have already appeared. “Life goes on. And we will go on as long as we live,” he said. However, for him and others, the Russian retreat brought only tacit joy. Even the quiet of peace brought anxiety. During the siege, gunfire and other gunfire were often silenced before bombings and airstrikes began. “After the silence came the bombing,” he said. Now, it remains “very scary to hear the silence.” Alla Sukretnaya is sitting with her dog, Mukhtar, while her husband, Leonid, is resting in the basement of a bomb shelter in Chernihiv. Russian mortars demolish their two-story house. ANTON SKYBA / The Globe and Mail For others, the destruction of personal life was so complete that it is difficult to capture a future life. Alla Sukretnaya and her husband, Leonid, were on the first floor of their two-story house when they were struck by a mortar. They fled, taking with them only their dog, Mukhtar. Everything else was completely burned. “I built this house with my own hands,” said Leonid, a retired trolley driver. Now, he finds the idea of reconstruction almost incomprehensible. “With what? We have nothing,” he said. Standing on the street tile laid by Alla herself, the couple looked at the remains of the house. The sight of what was in the house caused “pain. “Pain,” said Alla. “I’m angry,” Leonid said, kicking a piece of metal. I speak Russian and they came here to “liberate” me. The Morning and Afternoon Newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a brief overview of the day’s most important headlines. Register today.
