The route from Kyiv to Chernihiv has been restored Photo: mil.in.ua
Anna Ustenko for New Pathway – Ukrainian News from Ternopil.
Since the first days of the war, Ukraine’s northern city of Chernihiv and its region had been suffering from russia’s most gruesome attacks. The city lies on a route to Kyiv, through which the aggressor, apparently, planned to reach the capital. As of this moment, the level of destruction in Chernihiv is at 70%. While talking about russia’s attacks on the city, Chernihiv’s mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko compares them to the ones in Bucha, Kharkiv and even Mariupol. Several days ago the russians were forced by the Ukrainian armed forces to leave the occupied territory.
But until the region around Chernihiv was freed from the russians, it was immensely dangerous to go in or out of the city. With no humanitarian corridors, no one could be certain that their attempt to escape was going to be successful. The number of victims, including children and the elderly, who have been shot dead right in their cars on their way out of the city, is yet unknown.
While occupying the towns and villages of the Chernihiv region, the russian military committed numerous war crimes. The story of five Ukrainian men who survived after being held in captivity for 33 days in the village of Novyi Bykiv is one of the countless examples of those devastating atrocities. These civilian men were captivated for over a month in an iron container where they remained even during freezing cold with no warm clothes, food, or water until they were freed after their torturers fled the region.
Kolychivka, Yahidne, and Ivanivka — “These settlements of the Chernihiv region will remember the horrors of war for a long time. A pile of russian scrap metal smashed and burned by the Ukrainian military is now decoratingthe route from Chernihiv to Kozelets. putin’s killers lay dead on the Ukrainian soil or have fled miserably. The civilians are now receiving humanitarian aid.
No one can yet tell how many russian landmines are still out there on the streets of Chernihiv and other towns and villages. Currently, the sappers from the Luhansk region are helping to demine Chernihiv and neutralize explosive shells. According to the report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, before retreating from the region, the russians had mined some of the bodies of the dead.
While examining russian military vehicles, which were left abandoned in the town of Nova Basan’, Ukrainian soldiers discovered them to be filled with items stolen from Ukrainian households. Among other things, there were frying pans, children’s toys, bicycles, fishing rods and even Ukrainian coupons (old Ukrainian money).
For the last two weeks, the city of Chernihiv had no electricity. There were cases when people, who have been killed by shells, were laying on the sidewalks for hours. Because of no phone connection, there was no means to call for the bodies to be taken to the morgue, said Chernihiv’s mayor in an interview for “Ukrainska Pravda” last month. On the 16th of March alone at least ten civilians were shod dead while standing in a queue to buy bread. This is just one out of many genocidal acts committed by the russians in Ukraine.
Due to the damage to the critical infrastructure in Chernihiv caused by the russian artillery and missile attacks, the city remains without heating. Although electricity, water and gas supplies are gradually being restored.
The old Kyiv road is now the only way to move in and out of the city. The bridge through the Desna river that had served as the city’s usual entrance was destroyed by the russian rocket attack two weeks ago. Now that the movement is restored, the first convoys dispatched by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF containing power generators, medicines and other necessary equipment were able to enter the city on Monday. Several pharmacies are functioning in the region.
However, it seems that now is not the time to rejoice. Chernihiv’s mayor shares his worries — to bring the city back to life requires much effort, while the enemy might come back again. In the Chernihiv region, people, who had left the city earlier, are advised not to come back just yet. First, the demining has to take place. It is currently the most urgent task in order to restore life in the region.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the troops, which russia had to withdraw from regions of Chernihiv, Kyiv and Sumy are apparently regrouping in order to carry out an offensive in the east of Ukraine to try and gain full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
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