Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Reuven Asman shared this on Facebook a special guest arrived in Ukraine—Pastor Mark Burns the personal spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump He is a prominent figure in the religious and political circles of the United States whose voice plays a crucial role in shaping America's new strategy and policy,” Asman stated Asman highlighted that Burns “witnessed firsthand the consequences of the Russian army's crimes against the civilian population of Ukraine and personally heard the stories of survivors who endured this horrific occupation.” “What he saw left a profound impression on him—he did not hide his pain and sincere sympathy,” Asman remarked He expressed his belief that “these emotions and testimonies will not remain with him alone Pastor Burns is a man whose voice resonates in places where significant decisions are made I am confident that the truth from Ukraine will reach the very heart of the new American leadership.” Asman added that he initiated an interfaith religious forum that brought together representatives of various religious denominations and communities working in Ukraine and hopes for a brighter future,” said the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Pastor Burns was a special guest at the forum “He listened attentively to everyone who spoke—every word carried weight as it reflected the voices of believers who serve their communities daily under rockets and sirens supporting souls who have lost their homes and faith in tomorrow,” Asman emphasized He also shared that he had the opportunity to personally address Pastor Burns and explain how the Jewish community of Ukraine is enduring this trial but every moment was filled with profound meaning I am convinced that the heartfelt words shared will resonate deeply with Pastor Burns and will later be echoed in places where pivotal decisions for the world are being made today,” Asman concluded the head of the German Chancellor's Office visited Irpin and Bucha to honor the victims of Russian terror Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Reuven Asman shared this on Facebook While citing and using any materials on the Internet links to the website ukrinform.net not lower than the first paragraph are mandatory citing the translated materials of foreign media outlets is possible only if there is a link to the website ukrinform.net and the website of a foreign media outlet Materials marked as "Advertisement" or with a disclaimer reading "The material has been posted in accordance with Part 3 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising" No 1996 and the Law of Ukraine "On the Media" No 2023 and on the basis of an agreement/invoice Online media entity; Media identifier - R40-01421 Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker A monument for Taras Shevchenko is symbolically protected by bandages in Borodyanka Ukraine — In the devastated town of Borodyanka Natasha Romanenko has pushed paper into the bullet holes peppered across her windows there are holes where they were shooting directly in our window when we were hiding there," she says When Russian forces invaded and occupied the town, the damage was devastating. Ukrainian officials say Russia deliberately bombed civilian areas and that hundreds are still missing more than a week after the invading forces withdrew crews are sifting through the wreckage to see what — and who — survived We start to see signs of the destruction on the drive from Kyiv into Borodyanka What should be a quick trip now takes hours as destroyed bridges mean more cars crowd onto the few reliable routes and the military checkpoints create long lines on narrow roads We pass through the village of Dmitriovka and see a burned-out car near homes reduced to rubble another destroyed car that has the word "children" spray-painted in Russian along the side door We arrive on Borodyanka's main street — Central Street — with a humanitarian convoy that immediately begins handing out food and water She and her family spent a month hiding in a cramped which is mostly filled with crates of potatoes they would lay a carpet over the crates and try to sleep on top of that keeping warm under all the blankets they had and he thought she was scouting Russian troop locations She says he took her out to the middle of the road and pointed a gun to her head I said I just wish one thing: that he would see my face for the rest of his days so he would never forget what he's done here." The soldier spoke to someone else on his radio As the aid workers move through the main street and the scale of the destruction starts to sink in It's utter devastation everywhere you look There's an apartment building blackened from flames with the middle collapsed from the bombing The windows in all the storefronts have shattered and roofs have collapsed and most of the power lines are down and frayed on the ground Across from the destroyed apartment building there's a small park with a monument in the middle On top sits a giant bust of Taras Shevchenko The tall pillar that the bust rests on is cracked and crumbling from all the shrapnel Three policemen are holding a ladder while another man stands nearby Yaroslav Halubchik is an artist from Kyiv and has come here to help create an ad hoc art project — an instant memorial of sorts "We're calling it 'The Curing of Shevchenko' or 'The Healing of Shevchenko,' " he says Yaroslav steps up the ladder and starts to wrap a big gauze bandage around the bust's giant head a man in a Ukrainian military uniform comes up and asks him what he's doing Yaroslav explains that it's performance art he was worried that they were repairing it it is vital that we keep this monument as it is right now it shouldn't be touched," the soldier says He adds that it's especially important because of who Shevchenko was because we all know that Shevchenko and other Ukrainian poets were always enemies of Russia," he explains "I really hope that people will rebuild everything here as it was He's Yevhen Nyshchuk — the former Ukrainian minister of culture We keep making our way down the main street Building after building has collapsed from the bombardment of tank and rocket fire the worry is that bodies are still trapped underneath There's a playground in front of one of the buildings and a woman is sitting there on a bench next to a slide "His mother kept his old notebooks from school." Ludmila found them scattered around the debris of the apartment building They'd left their apartment and sought shelter during a break in the shelling and bombing and Olyna said they had been able to shower and eat some food "And so first they were trying to fight the fire They didn't have a chance to do excavations right away." people started trying to look for survivors Searching couldn't resume until a month after the attack "I just want to see how they discover all the bodies that they assume should be there and then probably I would like to do something like with DNA testing because I want to know for sure what happened," she says "I was so close with them that I don't even know how I should live now The crane continues to slowly remove rubble from a collapsed building Ludmila climbs up the pile of rubble to look covered and placed next to three others found earlier that day Ludmila goes back to the playground and sits down You don't have permissions to access this page Borodianska hromada comprises the urban-type administrative centre Borodianka and 31 villages Before the full-scale invasion in February 2022 Borodianska hromada’s estimated population was approximately 25,900 a number that had been gradually declining due to negative natural growth and out-migration1 65.15% of residents were of working age (18-64 years old) in 2021 The hromada primarily focused on agriculture with other major sectors of the local economy including transportation and logistics Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has severely impacted Borodianka and its surrounding areas resulting in substantial population displacement and destruction of infrastructure the area experienced intense military actions and occupation along with industrial and commercial properties displacing around 16,000 residents as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) or refugees abroad Since Ukraine regained control over the hromada in April 2022 approximately 13,000 residents have returned6 bringing the current estimated population to 24,000 3,213 IDPs were registered in the hromada8 with around 90% being local residents who lost their homes due to the active hostilities and now qualify for official IDP status under Ukrainian legislation Borodianka has become a focus for humanitarian and governmental ‘build back better’ recovery efforts To inform strategic and programmatic responses for durable solutions at the hromada level REACH Initiative conducted a profiling assessment that provides a comparative analysis of displacement-affected populations The UN is becoming increasingly concerned over falling levels of humanitarian funding for civilians across war-torn Ukraine, the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) told delegates to the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on Wednesday Speaking on behalf of Secretary-General António Guterres, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said the UN and partners were continuing to deliver “critical humanitarian assistance” but there is “growing concern about the decrease in humanitarian funding amidst the significant scale of need.” continue to be hit as Russia continues its offensive and “support is needed now more than ever” There are 24 different UN entities and around 3,000 personnel working alongside State and local authorities to meet immediate needs but also “pave the way to recovery the UN has put in place $1.1 billion in recovery and development spending through the end of 2023 and expects to invest a further $1 billion by the end of this year These focus on four key areas being managed by the UN Resident Coordinator: support for businesses and entrepreneurs prioritizing a “comprehensive model of recovery planning” and continuing to respond to Government requests for technical assistance The UNDP chief stressed that the only sustainable solution to the war remains a just, lasting and comprehensive peace, anchored in the principles of the UN Charter and international law.  “The war in Ukraine is destroying the country’s greatest resource – its people Without an increase in investment and sustained funding children and young people will not be able to access school and training opportunities – critical for the recovery of children COVID-19 had already disrupted schooling prior to Russia’s invasion of February 2022 Around four million Ukrainian children continue to have their education disrupted with approximately 600,000 unable to access in-person school at all “Latest available data from 2022 show that children in Ukraine are around two years behind in reading that gap has only widened,” the UNICEF official reported to assist the country’s transition towards a low-carbon economy in line with international norms overseen by the UN The development comes ahead of another high-level conference on Ukraine this time in Switzerland over the coming weekend Some 90 countries and organizations are due to attend the Burgenstock conference; Russia is expected to take part in sustainable peace discussions at a later date the UN and partners continue helping authorities evacuate thousands of people from frontline villages in the country’s northeast this week In an update on Tuesday, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR said that most of the evacuees are “already highly vulnerable” and could not have fled on their own earlier They included mainly older people and those with low mobility or disabilities “who left their homes with only a few belongings” more than one in 10 people have now lost their homes In an update on the massive reconstruction needs of the city in Ukraine’s northeast the UNECE cited reports that 150,000 of the 1.3 million people there are without housing The commission noted data from the local authorities showing that since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022 approximately 9,000 houses have been destroyed along with 110 nurseries and half the city’s schools all transformer substations on the power grid have been put out of action in Kharkiv along with 88 medical centres and 185 other public buildings The lyceum was restored by the Lithuanian Central Project Management Agency “Today is a special day for the institution. Including for 37 first-graders. I gladly accepted the invitation from them to come to the first bell celebration. I would be happy to study in such an institution myself,” said Ruslan Kravchenko, head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration during the opening of the lyceum and on the occasion of the new school year At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian occupiers damaged the buildings of the educational institution by almost 80% The Lithuanian agency Central Project Management Agency helped to restore the institution In addition to the restoration and arrangement a new underground bomb shelter was built in the school to ensure the educational process during air raids The adjacent infrastructure has also been arranged The school has been provided with new furniture and computer equipment and new equipment has been installed in the school's canteen According to the Central Project Management Agency's website almost EUR 8 million was spent on the lyceum's renovation including EUR 1.8 million donated by Taiwan The work lasted 18 months and was completed in March 2024 the school was named Lithuanian-Ukrainian Lyceum No The educational institution is designed for 540 students The school was put into operation in August 2024 The educational process at the institution began on September 2 and children will study in a full-time format according to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets 3,798 educational institutions have been affected by Russian aggression against Ukraine 365 of which have been completely destroyed The roots of Russia's invasion of Ukraine go back decades and run deep The current conflict is more than one country fighting to take over another; it is — in the words of one U.S official — a shift in "the world order."Here are some helpful stories to make sense of it all Ukraine — Nearly every building along this town's main street is damaged or destroyed: shops all with blackened walls and blown-out windows where a sign announces "Borodyanka is proud of our defenders," the roof has burned away Direct airstrikes targeting the center of each building reduced the middle to a gigantic pile of rubble spilling out into the street As concerns mount about the deaths of Ukrainian civilians officials are pointing to this small town about 35 miles northwest of the capital Kyiv Russian forces arrived soon after the invasion began on Feb "The cities are simply ruined," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after touring Bucha another Kyiv suburb where Russian forces are accused of killing hundreds of civilians "There is already information that the number of victims of the occupiers may be even higher in Borodyanka and some other liberated cities." Russian soldiers are accused to shooting civilians indiscriminately on the streets Russian forces deliberately struck and bombed civilian targets emergency crews are digging through the rubble hoping to find the hundreds reported missing in this town whose prewar population was 13,000 and people were trapped under the wreckage Most of them died there because they couldn't get out," Anton Gerashchenko Officials say about 90% of Borodyanka's population evacuated during the shelling Residents have only just begun to return in the last few days — to check on their homes reunite with family members or simply survey the damage a school director who evacuated after Russian troops arrived stopping here and there to take photos and shake his head in disbelief "It was a quiet and beautiful place," Bilevsky said It's too dangerous for many people to live here "There's no photo or video that can capture the atmosphere here now a member of Ukraine's territorial defense force who lives near Borodyanka and gave only his first name says he knows several people who are still missing "We're hoping they come back alive," he said Borodyanka sits at the crossroads of two highways a location that made it attractive to commuters who worked in Kyiv — and for Russian forces making their way to the capital from Belarus and it happened very unexpectedly," said Kostiantyn a member of the local territorial defense unit who declined to give his last name for security reasons we didn't have any real guns or ammunition," said another member of the local territorial defense unit He described local volunteers fighting Russians with Molotov cocktails and whatever weapons they had It did not take long for Russia to overpower the town with armed soldiers and tanks Russian jets flew overhead and struck apartment buildings just 100 yards from where he stood The Russian occupation ended as suddenly as it began came home Tuesday after weeks away to find his apartment had been trashed by soldiers using it as a base: The fridge emptied Asked how it felt to find that Russian soldiers had helped themselves to his home the feelings of relief about the Russian withdrawal are mixed with sorrow about their destroyed city and the many people feared dead realizing that a lot of people lost their lives," said Kostiantyn also a territorial defense force member who gave only his first name for security reasons said a resident who gave his name as Pavel "The missiles can fly from far away," he said Additional reporting by Luka Oleksyshyn in Borodyanka Become an NPR sponsor This digital tool will help the cities to plan their reconstruction in a very precise and fast way head of the Ukraine program at the Construction Sector Development Agency (CSDA) “The digital twin cities are starting to work,” he said “It makes it much easier to do that urban regeneration these are no longer plans based on guesswork The project is funded by Lithuania’s Fund for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid the tool will allow architects to plan the reconstruction of specific parts of the city without having to physically visit them as they will be able to see the city’s digital image from a specific point of their choice The CSDA will present the digital tool in Ukraine next week and start training urban professionals It will be used free of charge by Ukrainian municipalities The war has caused 190 million euros worth of losses in Bucha and 140 million euros worth of losses in Borodyanka which had a population of over 42,000 people before the war 185 buildings were destroyed and another 2,500 were damaged 144 buildings were completely destroyed and another 1,500 damaged Which language would you like to use this site in Russian forces must face justice for a series of war crimes committed in the region northwest of Kyiv Amnesty International said today in a new briefing following an extensive on-the-ground investigation The briefing, ‘He’s Not Coming Back’: War Crimes in Northwest Areas of Kyiv Oblast is based on dozens of interviews and extensive review of material evidence Amnesty International documented unlawful air strikes on Borodyanka and extrajudicial executions in other towns and villages including Bucha led by the organization’s Secretary General has been visiting the region in recent days speaking with survivors and families of victims and meeting with senior Ukrainian officials “The pattern of crimes committed by Russian forces that we have documented includes both unlawful attacks and wilful killings of civilians,” said Agnès Callamard “We have met families whose loved ones were killed in horrific attacks and whose lives have changed forever because of the Russian invasion the International Criminal Court and others to ensure evidence is preserved that could support future war crime prosecutions Amnesty International found that at least 40 civilians were killed in disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks which devastated an entire neighbourhood and left thousands of people homeless In Bucha and several other towns and villages located northwest of Kyiv Amnesty International documented 22 cases of unlawful killings by Russian forces most of which were apparent extrajudicial executions Amnesty International researchers interviewed residents of Bucha they interviewed 45 people who witnessed or had first-hand knowledge of unlawful killings of their relatives and neighbours by Russian soldiers and 39 others who witnessed or had first-hand knowledge of the air strikes that targeted eight residential buildings Find out more about the attacks on apartment buildings in Borodyanka and see the evidence for yourself a series of Russian air strikes hit eight residential buildings in the town of Borodyanka approximately 60 kilometres northwest of Kyiv The strikes killed at least 40 residents and destroyed the buildings as well as dozens of surrounding buildings and houses Most of the victims were killed in the buildings’ basements a single strike killed at least 23 people in Building 359 on Tsentralna Street The victims included five of Vadim Zahrebelny’s relatives: his mother Lydia Vadim told Amnesty International: “We [Vadim and his son] left Building 359 just after 7am my mother and my brother and his wife and her parents insisted on staying in the basement because they were afraid of getting shot by Russian soldiers if they went out on the streets Building 359 was bombed and they were all killed Vasyl Yaroshenko was close to one of the buildings when it was hit He said: “I left my apartment to go do some work in the garage as my wife was about to take a couple of older neighbours down to the basement The whole middle section of the building had collapsed – exactly where residents were sheltering in the basement I still see her by the door of our apartment a series of air strikes targeted six other buildings nearby At least seven people were killed in Building 371 on Tsentralna Street Vitali’s mother Ludmila told Amnesty International: “As the situation deteriorated it became too dangerous to move from one part of the town to another There were tanks on the streets… People were frightened to be outside “I was speaking to my son and telling him to leave They sheltered in the basement for safety – but the bomb destroyed the middle section of the building No fixed Ukrainian military targets are known to have been located at or around any of the buildings which were struck though at times armed individuals supporting Ukrainian forces reportedly fired on passing Russian military vehicles from or near some of those buildings Knowingly launching direct attacks on civilian objects or disproportionate attacks constitute war crimes Amnesty International has created a new interactive 360-degree representation of the extensive damage caused by the air strikes in Borodyanka, which can be viewed here The whole middle section of the building had collapsed – exactly where residents were sheltering in the basement approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Kyiv was occupied by Russian forces in late February Five men were killed in apparent extrajudicial executions by Russian forces in a compound of five buildings set around a courtyard close to the intersection of Yablunska and Vodoprovidna streets a 43-year-old sales manager and father-of-two was shot dead in his apartment on Yablunska Street on 4 March Yevhen’s wife Tatiana told Amnesty International that she was in their building’s basement while Yevhen had remained in their apartment He had gone to help a neighbour when Russian soldiers were conducting door-to-door searches whose body was then found in his apartment by a neighbour the next day Russian soldiers allowed Tatiana to visit the apartment She said: “Yevhen was lying dead in the kitchen His body remained in the apartment until 10 March when we were able to bury him in a shallow grave in the courtyard.” Amnesty International researchers found two bullets and three cartridge cases at the scene of the killing The organization’s weapons investigator identified the bullets as black-tipped 7N12 armour-piercing 9x39mm rounds that can only be fired by specialized rifles used by some elite Russian units including units reported to have been operating in Bucha during this time A collection of Russian military papers recovered in Bucha which Amnesty International researchers analysed gives further indications as to the units involved They included conscription and training records belonging to a driver-mechanic of the 104th Regiment of the VDV some VDV units are equipped with specialized rifles that fire the armour-piercing 9x39mm round a 44-year-old construction worker who lived in the same building as Yevhen Petrashenko Residents who were sheltering in the basement told Amnesty International that Russian soldiers shot Leonid as he was walking up the stairs They later found his maimed body slumped in a pool of blood on the stairs Amnesty International researchers found large blood stains over several steps on the stairs leading to the basement as well as burn marks and a pattern of damage on the wall consistent with a grenade explosion Amnesty International collected further evidence and testimony of unlawful killings including apparent extrajudicial executions: some victims had their hands tied behind their back while others showed signs of being tortured told Amnesty International that some villagers brought her Viktor’s body on 6 March She said: “His hands were tied behind his back with a piece of white plastic were killed when the car convoy they were travelling in was fired upon by what they believed were Russian forces Oleksii told Amnesty International: “The convoy was all fleeing civilians When our car had just reached a line of trees “The shots hit the first vehicle in the convoy We were the second vehicle and we had to stop My dad was killed instantly by a bullet to the head Amnesty International researchers who visited Bucha Borodyanka and other nearby towns and villages in April after victims had been exhumed (either from the rubble of collapsed buildings temporary graves in which many had been buried) found that many family members were unhappy with treatment of victims’ remains Family members were concerned that the processing of remains was chaotic and that remains in some cases were not being correctly identified Extrajudicial executions committed in international armed conflicts constitute wilful killings Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks carried out with criminal intent are also war crimes All those responsible for war crimes should be held criminally responsible for their actions Under the doctrine of command responsibility hierarchal superiors – including commanders and civilian leaders such as ministers and heads of state – who knew or had reason to know about war crimes committed by their forces but did not attempt to stop them or punish those responsible should also be held criminally responsible Any justice processes or mechanisms should be as comprehensive as possible and ensure that all perpetrators of war crimes the rights of victims must be at the forefront of investigating and prosecuting international crimes and all justice mechanisms should adopt a survivor-centred approach Amnesty International’s documentation of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed during the war in Ukraine is available here people in Ukraine are facing a catastrophic human rights crisis Take action to demand that the Russian authorities stop this act of aggression and protect civilians now If you are talented and passionate about human rights then Amnesty International wants to hear from you This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page A painting by British street artist Banksy amidst destroyed buildings in Borodianka on Saturday The image shows a young boy tossing a man to the floor The man is widely assumed to be Russian leader Vladimir Putin Ukraine — The Russian troops who pulverized this small town are gone But as residents try to rebuild from the rubble Russian missiles blasting other parts of Ukraine keep knocking out the electricity here as well The main street is lined of charred and crumbling buildings like a small grocery store and a coffee shop Workers rebuild a destroyed wall in Borodianka on Sunday says the main government building was badly damaged He shows a visitor his temporary workspace — an empty classroom at the high school This is where we have meetings," Yerko says he shares the school with nearly 1,000 students food and water for the community when extended blackouts hit People fill up containers with drinking water at a fountain outside of the Church of the Archangel Saint Michael after morning service in Borodianka on Sunday farming equipment and warehouses were destroyed He estimates business activity is one-third of what it was the Russians tried to storm the capital Kyiv but not until the Russians had laid waste to a number of outlying towns About 200 Ukrainians were killed when the Russians occupied Borodianka shortly after the invasion began on Feb The town's prewar population of 14,000 dwindled to a little more than 1,000 It's back up to about 9,000 despite the lack of resources was among the few people who stayed when the Russians were here I just went to church and hoped God would help us," says Hnidenko Morning services at the Church of the Archangel Saint Michael in Borodianka on Sunday A woman places a plant on the windowsill at the Church of the Archangel Saint Michael after morning service in Borodianka on Sunday His home is in a village outside town and was not damaged They include more than 200 people living in prefabricated "The people coming are mostly from the houses on the main street The ones that were destroyed and burned down," says Olha Kobzar a Ukrainian volunteer who is in charge of the temporary housing head of the temporary housing module in Borodianka More than 200 people live in the prefabricated and many more people would come if there was space at the temporary housing center where they live in Borodianka on Sunday Their apartment burned down amid Russian shelling in the spring leaving her standing in a darkened hallway She says she'll wait a while to see if the power comes back The temporary housing module is full with families in small rooms with bunk beds Kobzar says many more would come if there was more space We have computers where students can study online," she says In the center of town is a bust of Ukraine's national poet He championed Ukraine's independence from Russia in the 19th century "It's bad to be in chains and die a slave." a 19th-century Ukrainian poet and national icon Residents say that the holes in the bust appeared during the Russian occupation The surrounding devastation in the town has provided the canvas for a modern artist — Banksy People told me two days after it happened," says Yerko Art by British street arstist Banksy on a damaged building in Borodianka on Monday A British artist well-known for his street spray-paintings, Banksy surreptitiously painted on several badly scarred walls last month, later confirming it was his work on Instagram. One image shows a young boy tossing a man to the floor. Both are in martial arts attire. The man is widely assumed to be Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a judo enthusiast "People are happy we're getting this attention But the paintings are on buildings that were destroyed," Yerko says "We're planning to remove the paintings and put them somewhere else." Artyom Haydamaka works to repair the roof of a damaged apartment building on the main square in Borodianka on Monday A girl sleds next to destroyed buildings in Borodianka on Sunday Greg Myre is an NPR national security correspondent on assignment in Ukraine. Follow him @gregmyre1 When Russian invaders withdrew in early spring of 2022 from Borodianka a piece of street art by world renowned graffiti artist Banksy appeared on the wall of a war-damaged home The artwork – a ballerina balancing precariously on the rubble – solidified the town’s reputation as a beacon of resilience the efforts of its local artists musicians and librarians to revive their beloved hometown remain largely unknown outside Ukraine Now, cultural activities, one supported by the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) and art is being made and taught by inspirational local artists Natalia Vyshynska is committed to reviving cultural life in the town She and her colleagues have organized several public events since last year “We don’t use the word ‘concert’,” she explained “We say ‘a public gathering with musical performances.’ Concerts will be after our victory.” Taking part in this revival and resilience Vyshynska has led Borodianka’s culture department for nearly two decades She works out of the local cultural centre still scarred from shelling and standing next to homes destroyed in the devastating March 2022 bombings she has remained dedicated to her colleagues and the important work they carry out She even returned to the office two days after the invasion to ensure staff would get their salaries she and colleagues worked in the offices for the following year with broken windows covered with plastic film where they survived weeks of heavy fighting the family was able to escape and briefly relocated to western Ukraine they found their town in ruins. Of its 26 cultural establishments losing 95 per cent of their facilities and assets “We had a violin from 1826 stored in a protective box Only a scorched metal violin clef was found amidst the rubble.” Vyshynska and her colleagues were working to modernize the cultural institutions in Borodianka a town with a pre-war population of roughly 13,000 Applying her background in psychology to transform a local sewing class into a fashion theatre and overcoming fears of sharing their art with a live audience town librarians helped senior citizens develop digital literacy skills While many young people have left to find safety and jobs elsewhere a steady stream is returning since the Government of Ukraine regained control over Borodianka and the northern areas of the country Many displaced people make the decision to return Most of those returning are in their forties and fifties Acknowledging that some people still might find public events inappropriate she said for the hundreds of attendees and for those who organize them “Many of our singers lost their relatives; many lost their homes,” she said coping with death and losses is a reality in the town “We go to the cemetery; we cry and remember our dead,” she said they would like life in Borodianka to go on.” Vyshynska and her team continue to engage psychologists in their efforts and losing their parents and homes,” she said they can express their fears and traumatizing experiences and we help them process these difficult emotions and continue with their lives.” Members of her community give her strength and make her proud There is local history expert Valentyn Moiseenko He miraculously survived the bombing of Borodianka and escaped with his wife he wrote a book about the days when the town was under Russian military control and at the centre of heavy fighting Another inspirational town resident is Svitlana Vyskochy a local artist who creates decorated Easter eggs called pysankas She conducts master classes for hospital patients every week adorned with the famous maiolica rooster and the words “Borodianka’s culture is alive” The town cultural centre relies on grants from businesses and international organizations.  One project supported by the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) with funding from the Republic of Korea and Canada It is also creating a space for young families and providing a huge tent that will allow Ms Vyshynska’s team to bring services to people in war-affected communities around Borodianka she and other community members took part in inclusive dialogue sessions where they could collectively shape the future of their community through projects for social change Together with volunteers from across Ukraine they applied these skills to transform their cultural centre so that Borodianka can continue to celebrate its unique culture for generations to come Millions of Ukrainians have fled the country since Russia’s full-scale invasion in early 2022 and now the authorities in Ukraine with the support of the United Nations are planning ahead for their eventual return The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has added two of Ukraine’s most historic buildings in Kyiv and another site in Lviv, to its official list of World Heritage sites in danger   2022 4:56 p.m.Graffiti of a woman in a leotard doing a handstand is seen on the wall of a destroyed building in Borodyanka on Friday in Kyiv Region Banksy later confirmed on their Instagram account that this piece was their work who is known for sending political messages has revealed a new mural on a building destroyed by shelling in Ukraine Banksy's work, which the artist posted on Instagram Friday to 11.2 million followers features a gymnast balancing on a pile of rubble with her hands The Instagram post is captioned "Borodyanka Russian forces invaded Borodyanka and Ukrainian officials said they deliberately bombed civilian areas and power lines splayed on the ground in the area after Russia withdrew Graffiti of a child throwing a man on the floor in judo clothing is seen on a wall amid damaged buildings in Borodyanka on Friday Other new murals with a similar style have been spotted in the area and are suspected to have been created by Banksy but the British artist has not publicly claimed credit World Taekwondo withdrew Putin's honorary black belt after Russia's invasion of Ukraine depicts a young rhythmic gymnast balancing on a hole in the side of a building Graffiti of a woman in a leotard and a neck brace waving a ribbon is seen on the wall of a destroyed building in Irpin on Friday Ukraine scored a military win on Friday after Russia withdrew all its troops from Kherson, Ukraine. Ukrainian troops have retaken the city and Ukrainians have reportedly hoisted Ukrainian flags atop buildings and torn down Russian billboard signs Tags: World, Art Stand with OPB and protect independent journalism for everyone Listen to the OPB News live stream (opens new window)Streaming Now was implemented by the CPMA and financed by the US NGO Hope Foundation The two countries collectively contributed 500,000 euros to the project According to the Ukrainian Education and Science Ministry around 3,000 schools and kindergartens in the country have been damaged or completely destroyed since the beginning of the war The renovated facility was one of Borodyanka’s three kindergartens destroyed by Russian attacks and Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Simonas Šatūnas “The rebuilt kindergarten is further proof that Ukraine is moving firmly into the future I am pleased that Ukraine has so many different partners helping it on this path,” Šatūnas was quoted as saying in the press release “We will continue to do our utmost to ensure that children grow up and live in a free and secure Ukraine,” he added said the facility was among the first to be hit by Russia’s attacks in early March 2022 “We had to operate in another kindergarten where we could only accommodate four groups especially those with very young children because we had neither the space nor the equipment to accommodate them,” she was quoted as saying in the press release The CPMA has been actively working in Ukraine since 2017 The agency’s portfolio currently stands at 17.47 billion euros with 140 million euros allocated for Ukraine Kremlin spokesperson says Russia has lost ‘significant’ number of troops as Ukraine prepares to defend against major offensive in the east Russia has given the most sombre assessment so far of its invasion of Ukraine describing the “tragedy” of mounting troop losses and the economic blow from sanctions as Ukrainians were evacuated from eastern cities before an anticipated major offensive The comments came as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy foreshadowed the emergence of more atrocities, saying the situation in the town of Borodianka was “much more disastrous” than in Bucha Moscow’s six-week long incursion has seen more than 4 million people flee abroad turned cities into rubble and led to sweeping sanctions on Russian leaders and companies In a symbolic move, the United Nations general assembly suspended Russia from the UN human rights council expressing “grave concern at the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis” 2:13'You don't resign after you're fired': Russia quits human rights council after suspension – videoRussian disinformation surged on social media after invasion of Ukraine, Meta reportsRead moreMoscow has previously acknowledged its attack has not progressed as quickly as it wanted but on Thursday Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov lamented the rising death toll “We have significant losses of troops,” he told Sky News Russia is facing its most difficult economic situation for three decades due to unprecedented western sanctions The US Congress removed its “most favoured nation” trade status from Russia in a further blow Kyiv has called for more heavy weaponry from its western allies and “ruinous” sanctions against Moscow, saying the scale of any impending Russian assault on eastern Ukraine would remind Nato members of the second world war “Either you help us now – and I’m speaking about days not weeks – or your help will come too late and many people will die,” Ukraine’s foreign minister told a meeting of his counterparts in the alliance in Brussels on Thursday Kuleba said he expected Nato members to send Kyiv the weapons it needed but insisted they must act fast while Moscow refocuses its offensive on the Donbas region “I think the deal that Ukraine is offering is fair You give us weapons; we sacrifice our lives 1:13Donbas battle will be like second world war Ukraine tells Nato – videoNato’s secretary general said the alliance had agreed to strengthen support for Ukraine was providing “a wide range” of weapon systems and would also provide cybersecurity assistance and equipment to protect against chemical and biological threats With peace talks between Russia and Ukraine continuing by video which has hosted two meetings between the sides said images of what appeared to be deliberate civilian killings in Bucha and towns in the Kyiv area had “overshadowed” negotiations and ruined an “emerging positive atmosphere” in the streets of Bucha after it was recaptured from Russian invaders have sparked international revulsion and renewed calls from Ukraine for more weapons and tougher sanctions Zelenskiy said the situation in the town of Borodianka was “much worse” than Bucha “The work to clear the rubble in Borodianka has begun … it’s significantly more dreadful there Even more victims from the Russian occupiers,” he said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging service The town is about 15 miles (24km) from Bucha Video from Borodianka showed search and rescue teams using heavy equipment to dig through the rubble of a building that collapsed 1:13Drone footage shows scale of destruction in Borodyanka in Ukraine – videoZelenskiy also warned that Russia was preparing “propaganda scenarios” in which Russian troops would make it look like Ukrainian soldiers were responsible for the deaths of civilians in Mariupol Pro-Russian authorities in Mariupol said on Thursday that 5,000 people had been killed in the besieged southern city “Around 60-70% of the housing stock has been destroyed or partially destroyed,” said Konstantin Ivashchenko who separatists in the breakaway Donetsk region have claimed is now the mayor of Mariupol Ukrainian authorities had put forward a “conservative” estimate of 5,000 dead in the city while indicating that there could be “tens of thousands of civilian casualties” Boris Johnson is set to host the German chancellor on Friday as they look to discuss how to help Europe wean itself off Russian gas The prime minister will hold talks with Olaf Scholz at Downing Street with a press conference planned for the afternoon Radio transmissions in which Russian soldiers appear to talk among themselves about carrying out premeditated civilian killings in Ukraine have been intercepted by Germany’s foreign intelligence service The World Health Organization on Thursday said it had confirmed more than 100 attacks on health services in Ukraine as it called for humanitarian access to the besieged city of Mariupol Australia is sending its first convoy of 20 refitted Bushmaster armoured vehicles to Ukraine on C-17 Globemaster aircraft Lithuania’s ambassador to Ukraine on Thursday returned to Kyiv after Russian forces withdrew from the Ukrainian capital becoming one of the few diplomats to return to the city Valdemaras Sarapinas said: “Political and moral support is very important for the Ukrainians.” saying he has lost half of one leg and a foot He paid tribute to his colleagues killed in the attack producer Oleksandra Kuvshynova and cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski Russia launched what it calls a “special military operation” on 24 February to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine Kyiv and its western allies reject that as a false pretext The EU’s ambassadors agreed a fifth sanctions package on Russia with a coal embargo containing a 120-day wind-down period to give member states time to find alternative suppliers following pressure from Germany to delay the measure Ukraine accused Hungary of undermining EU unity after Budapest said it was prepared to pay roubles for Russian gas a Kremlin demand that most in the west had resisted Ukraine says after withdrawing from Kyiv’s outskirts Russia is regrouping to try to gain full control over the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk which have been partly held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014 where more than 100,000 people are believed to be still trapped Both sides have continued to trade accusations with Moscow opening a criminal investigation into a Russian soldier’s allegations that he was beaten and threatened with death while being held in Ukraine as a prisoner of war Separately, a social media video verified by Reuters and geolocated to an area west of Kyiv appears to show Ukrainian forces shooting and killing a captured and badly wounded Russian soldier Photos NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam (France) travelled to Ukraine over the weekend to convey the unwavering support of Allied parliaments to Ukraine right to self-defence and self-determination unjustified and criminal war nears the one-year mark President Garriaud-Maylam paid tribute to the Ukrainian people’s remarkable resilience courage and resistance and stressed that the Assembly will continue to play its full part in mobilising the support Ukraine needs to prevail.  “The NATO PA has stood with Ukraine from the very first day of Russia’s aggression and we will stand with Ukraine for however long it takes,” President Garriaud-Maylam underlined in all her engagements with her Ukrainian interlocutors In a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation to the NATO PA First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Korniyenko expressed his profound appreciation for the resolute and continuous support of the NATO PA and the Allies for Ukraine in its rightful fight and Ukraine needs more military support to not only resist but win ‘’Ukraine is fighting for its sovereignty and its identity as well as for our shared democratic values” adding that all of Ukraine’s partners need to continue to increase and accelerate the provision of assistance to Ukraine It was also among the first to support the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression Ms Garriaud-Maylam also met for a second time with Oleksandra Matviichuk of the Centre for Civil Liberties a human rights organisation and one of the recipients of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize They discussed the importance of collecting evidence to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.  ‘’We must remember that Russia’s war started in 2014” President Garriaud-Maylam stressed in her meeting with Tamila Tasheva Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea The Assembly will never recognise any of Russia’s attempted forcible annexations She also renewed the NATO PA’s support for the Crimea Platform which the Assembly backed as early as April 2021 through the creation of an informal support group.  The Ukrainian people’s resilience was in focus during President Garriaud-Maylam’s meeting with Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko Mayor Klitschko condemned Russia’s relentless attacks against critical infrastructure and highlighted efforts to repair and maintain the integrity of the city’s energy grid He shared examples of Kyiv residents’ remarkable spirit of resistance Welcoming the historic Ukraine-EU Summit which coincided with her visit NATO PA President Garriaud-Maylam highlighted the importance of ongoing close synergy between NATO and the EU in their respective assistance to Ukraine as well as in continuing to support Ukraine on its European and Euro-Atlantic integration paths Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Olha Stefanishyna underlined that moving Ukraine forward on the Euro-Atlantic path would send an important message of unity to the Ukrainian society President Garriaud-Maylam reiterated the Assembly’s call for Allies to agree on the next steps of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic path in the run-up to and at the Vilnius Summit of Heads of State and Government in July Supporting the reconstruction efforts that are already ongoing in Ukraine is also essential President Garriaud-Maylam also met with Yevhen Perebyinis Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration The rise of cyber operations - both below and above the threshold of war - raises significant questions about the future of Allied security As NATO’s new Strategic Concept states: “Cyberspace is contested at all times.” The cyber challenge… The countries of the Western Balkans have made varied progress in economic and political transition One of the region’s countries is now a member of the EU and four have acceded to NATO But the region’s transition is incomplete and there are signs of backsliding… Corruption undermines national institutions that are critical to administering states endangering national stability and deepening international differences It enables terrorist and criminal networks both by providing vehicles for these groups to finance their… Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine proves that it is not just a threat to but an active spoiler of European security and stability is not the only challenge to Euro-Atlantic security which complicates a longer-term response to… The emergence of new trading powers and particularly China has fomented new tensions in the international trading system Faced with the greatest security crisis on the European continent since the end of WW2 The new NATO Strategic Concept adopted in Madrid places a clear emphasis on defence and deterrence Russia’s illegal and brutal military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 represents a tectonic shift in international affairs that will fundamentally affect the global security landscape Ukraine stands at the frontline of the democratic world pushing back against… The future is fraught with uncertainties and envisioning the future of warfare is a difficult task particularly as warfare is shaped by geopolitical Too many analyses focus on the issues of today… the critical infrastructures of NATO Member States and its partners face a rising and unprecedented wave of malicious cyber activities with destabilising and devastating consequences Public and private entities indispensable to the functioning The Alliance reacted swiftly and effectively to do its part to mitigate the impact of the spreading coronavirus early in 2020 It continues to contribute to the fight that will lead to its ultimate defeat NATO has coordinated well over 350 missions to… Five years after the Revolution of Dignity Ukraine still faces tremendous challenges both in protecting its sovereignty in the face of the ongoing Russian aggression and in fulfilling its commitments towards reform It is clear that there is frustration and… NATO is implementing ambitious new adaptations to its defence and deterrence posture in response to a rapidly evolving international security environment In parallel there is a rising expectation all NATO Allies must do more to invest in the success of these… co-chairperson of the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council (UNIC) welcomed the delegates to Odesa and noted that the President of the Parliament had just presented a national security bill to the Rada A number of allied countries helped with that… Trump said that Russia has grown more willing to negotiate an end to its war against Ukraine following a sharp decline in oil prices Poland will hold presidential elections on May 18 as the country faces key debates over social policy and national security that could shape its political trajectory The annual report said Russia is using aggressive tactics such as unauthorized airspace incursions and close encounters with NATO ships and aircraft including Iranian-designed Shahed-type drones located about 70 kilometers northwest of Donetsk remains one of the most fiercely contested sectors of the front where Russia has concentrated its main offensive efforts since March  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 11:41 am)Ukraine's drones target Moscow second night in a row, Russian official claims, ahead of Victory Day parade. Debris from one of the drones reportedly fell on the Kashirskoye Highway The reported attack comes just days before Russia's Victory Day parade and three-day "truce." Vice President Mike Pence said Putin "only understands power." About 800 million euros ($905 million) will be allocated for the acquisition and installation of anti-tank mines to deter potential aggression  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 9:36 am)War analysisFrance is sending Ukraine more AASM Hammer bombs — here's what they can do Polish President Andrzej Duda said the United States has tools that can effectively influence the Kremlin arguing that only President Donald Trump has real leverage over Russian President Vladimir Putin The number includes 1,430 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement" by Benjamin Nathans which covers dissent in the Soviet Union and Russia today by Nate OstillerA Ukrainian soldier walks past a damaged monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in front of the residential buildings destroyed by Russian aircraft bombardment in Borodianka (Oleksandr Klymenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)Around Hr 19.8 million ($498,000) in reconstruction funds allocated to the heavily damaged Kyiv suburb of Borodianka "disappeared," Ukraine's State Audit Service said on May 3 Borodianka, once a town of 12,000 people 40 kilometers (~25 miles) northwest of Kyiv, suffered widespread destruction in the first weeks of Russia's all-out war against Ukraine Significant funding has been directed to the town and other places that bore the brunt of the initial Russian onslaught After an audit of the Borodianka town council auditors determined that there was a discrepancy of Hr 14 million (around $353,000) related to plastic-metal windows which were earmarked for installation but never actually put in The auditors also found that purchasing and installing materials at prices above their market price resulted in a loss of Hr 5.2 million ($131,000) The State Audit Service said that local governments should "ensure more thorough control" over reconstruction funding and added that the case had been referred to the Prosecutor General's Office to determine whether there had been criminal wrongdoing Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast and focused primarily on digital misinformation Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine Psychologists are struggling to help stricken locals cope with PTSD while facing their own grief after intense bombing she takes pills that eventually shift her into unconsciousness “No normal person can go through this and come out without traces,” she said Boiko knows better than most the psychological effects Russia’s invasion has had on people in Ukraine. As the director of a long-standing Ukrainian centre of psychology in Borodyanka, a town north of the capital Kyiv which was pummelled by Russian bombs and then occupied Boiko is at the forefront of one of Ukraine’s biggest civilian challenges – helping a traumatised population cope with the horrors of a war that shows no sign of ending Boiko and her team at the Centre for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation have set about treating their community while trying to deal with their own trauma Boiko’s sister and nephew died in a basement in the town when a Russian bomb hit their apartment block Months after Russian forces were pushed out of the Kyiv region people are struggling to cope with what they endured Those who lived through the Russian occupation are some of the worst affected on what leading Ukrainian psychologists see as a spectrum of trauma experienced by the whole country Borodyanka’s centre of psychology was set up in 1994 to deal with the aftermath of Chernobyl. Later, it treated Ukrainian veterans from the war in eastern Ukraine After Russian troops rolled in from the Belarusian border the centre was destroyed by a Russian bomb in the first few days of the war The psychologists say every resident who stayed in the town is suffering from stress, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) “You can visually tell the difference between a person on the street who wasn’t here and a person who stayed [during the occupation],” said Boiko Local residents, many of whom have been traumatised by the invasion, queue for humanitarian aid. Photograph: Roman Pilipey/EPA“The person who’s just coming back still has strength whereas a person who stayed is completely wiped We are not coping with the scale of the problems.” There were 15,000 people in Borodyanka before the war and 25,000 in the surrounding villages Whole apartment buildings were obliterated by Russian bombs making it difficult to determine the total number who died Some of the residents may have left the town “You leave your house and you understand that you still need to wake up – that this is all a nightmare and it is not real “There were people who were still alive under the rubble of two apartment buildings They were calling out for food and water but every person who tried to go near them They all died when they could have been saved – 40 people.” The struggle of treating PTSD is increased while the war continues The effects of PTSD worsen if a person continues to live in an environment of heightened stress – such as a war who is head of Ukraine’s Methodological Institute for Applied Psychology and Social Work which develops approaches for psychologists in the country they are stars,” said Panok of the work undertaken by Boiko and her team in Borodyanka Panok has known Boiko since the early 1990s when he was responsible for developing Ukraine’s national psychology programme Panok now acts as their supervisor – in effect he is the psychologists’ psychologist – and is there to help them deal with their trauma as well as the trauma they absorb through treating others having psychologists who have experienced the same trauma is a plus because the victim does not have to spend hours explaining what happened to them it is difficult for some psychologists not to react with their own emotions after experiencing the same trauma explaining why the role of a supervisor is so important said the Borodyanka psychologists understand emotional burnout they are ‘gone’ by the time they get home in the evening.” they offer tactics that people can use to help solve the problems they are experiencing on their own and to stave off feelings of panic as much as possible Two women seek respite from the destruction in a park in Borodyanka Photograph: Natacha Pisarenko/APAn important tactic for treatment is learning what to do if the trauma is repeated – that is if you experience another Russian attack – and “You need to be organised and know how to act,” said Sushko And you have to make sure you always have spare petrol for your car She described how she and her husband left their basement one day to make a hot drink in their kitchen and were forced to throw themselves on to different floors of their house when a bomb flew overhead She said there was one particularly intense day of bombing where she wondered if anyone in the town had survived Sushko said they were all still scared and certain sounds were triggers for those who stayed “There is no safe place in Ukraine right now – we are all in a state of anxiety.” Panok estimates there are up to 7 million trauma victims in Ukraine were people who had to flee their homes and he estimates around 50% of them have PTSD “You have to imagine the stress that people experience when they are forced to flee when they literally have to look around for their documents and then just leave everything they have and not know where they are going to end up,” said Panok “Then you have the people who experienced bombing or heard it saw their neighbours being shot by the occupiers Panok is working with the German government to train Ukrainian psychologists to deliver what they call first-aid psychological help basic tactics people can learn to help themselves cope But what he really wants to see is a nationwide support programme which he thinks is achievable because of how the Ukrainian psychology system is set up While in Europe and the US people are referred to certain services run by psychologists – for instance for behavioural problems or alcoholism – in Ukraine, said Panok, such help is integrated into society through the education system and works on a preventative, rather than reactive, basis. Starting in the early 1990s, psychologists were installed in all educational institutions. Their job is to follow the development of children and young adults and try to predict and prevent problems. Read more“If you take children and their family members you already have access to about 90% of the population,” said Panok is help training Ukrainian psychologists en masse on how to deal with stress trauma and general first aid psychological assistance “The Ukrainian authorities are so busy at the moment I don’t think they realise what a tool they already have,” he said referring to the 23,000 psychologists inside the education system PTSD can affect the victim intermittently for the rest of their life This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025 The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media Home page » Topics » War » How Borodianka is being restored The settlements north of Kyiv were among the first to begin the restoration process after the Russian occupation and battles for the region as Ukrainian defenders liberated them in April 2022 revealing the war crimes committed by Russian troops communities began preparing to reconstruct critical facilities and accessibility to bomb shelters are the three essential points in the Kyiv Polissia restoration projects we cover the ways that war-scarred settlements in Ukraine are coming back to life This article focuses on how Borodianka is being reconstructed we will be highlighting the concept of village reconstruction developed by the Ukrainian company UVT Group the challenges the Borodianka local authorities faced during reconstruction the new inclusive administrative service center It was severely damaged during Russia’s attempt to capture the capital and endured occupation for more than 30 days from the beginning of spring 2022 The Russians killed many civilians and caused extensive damage to the village It was in Borodianka where photojournalists captured wartime shots which later became legendary the monument to Taras Shevchenko shot in the head or the ceramic rooster from the Vasylkiv majolica factory which survived on a wall cabinet in the kitchen of an apartment building that was destroyed by shelling Borodianka is gradually restoring and rebuilding what was destroyed based on a people-centred approach to ensure that residents can live comfortably and develop their community Oleksiy Agafonov is a co-founder and architect at UVT Group the company which developed the concept of restoring Borodianka after the Russian occupation The Kyiv Regional State Administration and the Borodianka United Territorial Community commissioned this project the concept is still being discussed at the community level meaning that it has not yet been implemented UVT Group developed a preliminary design of the Borodianka central street which was badly damaged during the Russian occupation They introduced modern approaches to urban planning including creating a barrier-free environment and replacing surface parking with underground parking they developed façade passports to restore damaged historical buildings There are certain factors framing the reconstruction concept a residential building can be reconstructed only on the site of a destroyed one Oleksiy emphasises that a people-centred approach was taken as the basis so that the reconstructed street would be comfortable for the citizens new supply systems and infrastructure facilities UVT Group has already worked on about 50 sites in the city centre (destroyed third-party contractors begin reconstructing those sites this one depends on state funds and is also psychologically challenging you always see people who have lost everything everything else goes as usual for the construction sites Oleksiy’s company is also designing an art school in Borodianka which will be named in honour of the photographer and documentary filmmaker Max Levin Oleksiy knows well that it is essential to reconstruct not only the housing stock but also cultural institutions and the central square Iryna Zakharchenko is the deputy of the local council and acting head of the village in Borodianka More than 2,000 sites were destroyed here during the Russian occupation out of the 26,000 people registered in the community (many live without registration) about 7,000 people have not yet returned home and the homes of 5,000 residents have been destroyed and are now uninhabitable In April 2023, Borodianka became one of the six settlements selected for implementing an experimental project It provides searching for the most effective and systemic approaches to the rapid restoration of severely affected cities Iryna notes that it was then that they started considering reconstruction fundamentally After the de-occupation in the spring of 2022 they first tackled the critical areas: electricity — Since this was the most damaged community [in the Kyiv Polissia region] The community submitted 109 sites for the experimental project Some have already completed the documentation preparation stage a set of construction documents has been developed a contract with a contractor has been signed there was a certain delay in the works due to the fact that the contractors were waiting for state investment Not everyone could start with their own funds and then receive compensation Iryna shares about all reconstruction stages on her social media pages allowing people to join discussions about the projects in the comments a local youth parliament was established in Borodianka Its members also participate in discussing the reconstruction projects Iryna says that the children have many ideas and they are especially excited about sports This is not least due to the fact that many of them were evacuated abroad and learnred about the amount of opportunities there are for children in other countries despite the current lack of facilities in Borodianka children remain dedicated to their favorite activities and achieve top rankings t in various competitions we still have a large number of activity clubs that continue to operate One of the sites planned to be reconstructed is the central square The idea is to make a huge bomb shelter under it This will provide protection to people living in the nearby houses since most of them only have basements which are not very safe during enemy attacks some projects cannot be implemented quickly The reason is that even if it is possible to reconstruct the building it is not yet the ultimate result since the water supply system must also be restored there Another complicated and time-consuming process is general stocktaking The challenge is that there is no suitable expert in the community so the administration has to do that by themselves a significant challenge is that not everyone has returned home making it difficult to inspect the apartments in the buildings that need to be restored — It was not possible to issue a detailed damage report for each apartment and some discover that their boiler has defrosted Iryna says that the community does not receive clarifications from the state they learn from their mistakes and have already successfully completed many stages of the project They are waiting for the warmer season to begin to direct construction work In order to attract the support of foreign partners Iryna advises developing a set of construction documents and then applying for financial aid — There are very few Western companies that are willing to invest not only in constructing something but also in developing project design and budgeting we did not have a single project document ready some sites have already been reconstructed they opened an administrative service centre built from scratch The Russian army completely destroyed the former building with a direct missile strike The new administrative service centre has many improvements compared to the one that used to be there meaning it has a lift and a bathroom for people with disabilities services were provided at an information kiosk they started constructing a new administrative service centre building and equipping it with the hardware within the framework of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme with financial support from the European Union The new administrative service centre is the only one in the community a significant increase since February 2022 Many people come to the service centre to seek compensation for the destroyed housing internally displaced persons look for help there this facility serves not only the residents of Borodianka but also residents of the neighboring Nemishaieve community more than 100 people visit the centre daily — [Apart from that,] now people turn to us not just for a service which we don’t formally record or accept applications for someone might visit us with their smartphone and not know how to submit [an application] via Diia (an e-governance mobile app — tr.) Our administrators help them by filling in the message and the application form They also help people obtain a bank card in any bank for the eRecovery program (state aid program for owners of housing that was damaged or destroyed due to hostilities — tr.) to ensure that the person has an account to receive aid people can access certain services by contacting the authorities in their settlement since the elders have the authority to provide social services — Our goal is to ensure that services are provided with quality within the community so that individuals receive everything needed without having to go elsewhere Tomas Matulevičius is a commercial manager and a representative of the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania His role in Ukraine is to coordinate bilateral projects cooperate with Ukrainian contractors and local authorities and monitor the reconstruction of facilities undertaken by Lithuania and employees to speak with me in Ukrainian Reconstructing the Lyceum is Lithuania’s third project in Borodianka since the full-scale invasion The first was a mobile camp for displaced persons where 36 families now live The second project concerns improving and equipping the kindergarten called “Pinocchio” Tomas says Lithuania took the initiative and offered to help with reconstruction in Borodianka The abundant media coverage of these settlements after the spring of 2022 played a crucial role in their decision to help he claims that if any of the cities affected by the Russian invasion apply for aid the Lithuanians are ready to consider their projects which eventually became a Lyceum as they understood the impact the pandemic and then the full-scale war had on the education of Ukrainian children Many do not have the opportunity to go to school when offline learning is crucial Lithuanians are also aware that families will be more willing to return to communities with educational institutions — Education is one of the critical points to consider when thinking about the future The school suffered from Russian shelling with both missiles and tanks during the occupation of Borodianka — I can still remember the graffiti painted by Russian soldiers on the wall and we will definitely show what it used to look like and what it has become The Lithuanians offered their help in the autumn of 2022 They started the work in February 2023 and plan to complete it in the spring of 2024 saw the extent of damage and roughly estimated the potential costs we didn’t fully comprehend the entire scope of work it was about repairing the roof and classrooms upon further closer inspection of the damage they noticed cracks in the walls and other issues This led to the idea of demolishing the building the parties agreed that extensive repairs would be sufficient Tomas believes that although building from scratch is more expensive it’s difficult to make it highly efficient and impressive Lithuania initiated creating an innovation project to reconstruct Ukrainian schools will develop a school reconstruction project that will be available for use by the communities whose schools were affected during the renovation of the Borodianka Lyceum They arranged a spacious atrium (a large space inside the building similar to a courtyard — ed.) which is to become a space for informal communication and film screenings Classrooms were equipped with technology and smart boards they improved energy efficiency thanks to a new boiler room One of the reconstruction key points is arranging a new bomb shelter in the inner courtyard of the school equipped with a generator This capacity exceeds the needs of the Lyceum people from the administrative service centre and other nearby facilities can also seek shelter there Tomas emphasizes that there is a vital difference between an ordinary school basement and a shelter where children can not only hide during an air raid but also continue to study — We know that an air alert can last not only for an hour This means that lessons that should have taken place during those two hours are simply cancelled and lost because students can’t study under such conditions And the approach we stick to implies that if we are investing or engaging in something then we have to do it in a better way than before Lithuania assisted not only with the reconstruction of the school but also with equipment: hardware children from Borodianka went to three camps in Lithuania where they connected with peers and now remain in touch t Teachers also traveled there and attended seminars on improving the educational process they plan on inviting famous athletes to chat and play basketball with the children Tomas says that Lithuania serves as a role model proving to other countries that it is not required to wait for the end of the war to undertake reconstruction Starting now gives people hope and helps them to hold on in the time of horrors around them Tomas notes that the first Lithuanian delegations came to Ukraine in March 2022 and saw the scale of destruction and immediately decided to help Ukraine — It hurt us to see what was happening and the situation we all got into we have never forgotten what the Soviet Union did to us Banning the language and shutting down our churches and our schools were the means to transform the entire state and rewrite our history We have never forgotten our brothers who died after World War II (Baltic partisans who waged an insurgency against the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1956; known as the “Forest Brothers” — tr.) We have not forgotten how our ancestors were deported to Siberia And what happened in Ukraine in 2022 felt close to us Coordinator of the partnerships department: Involved in the preparation of the material 45 volunteers Project support: Fundacja Euromaidan-Warszawa Use of materials is only permitted upon providing the source: Ukrainer.net Дизайн — Артем Зубкевич Розробка — Deluxcode scans our passports at one of the many checkpoints along the Zhytomyr highway soon establishes that the only way to reach Borodyanka a small town once home to 12,000 in northwest Ukraine and occupied by the Russians until only days earlier was to travel off-road through a few miles of muddy forest and bumpy cow patches He could deftly maneuver his way at breakneck speed through snaking rows of concrete barriers and sandbags designed to impede the advance of incoming tanks within the city limits of Kyiv By the time my night train from Lviv had pulled into the capital’s train station the Russians had completely withdrawn from Kyiv oblast “Not too far!” Vadym shouted when we were halfway through the forest My party had gotten out to answer nature’s call under the privacy of nature’s canopy Borodyanka was once a quaint commuter’s suburb for those working in the capital It took us three owing to the convoys of cars squeezing through narrow roads via dusty villages Most are filled with Ukrainians returning from internal or external displacement to their homes in Kyiv following the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from the region are likely to return to Borodyanka for the foreseeable future On either side of Central Street (formerly Lenin Street) lie charred or collapsed buildings fronted by an ever-lengthening graveyard of armored personnel carriers Ruined Russian equipment is conspicuous by the white spray-painted letter “V,” one of several cryptic symbols of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war and believed to be specific to the Russian military districts or units from which they hail commerce or municipality is damaged or destroyed the Avenue family restaurant and the Baby Band Shop 26 as part of the northeast axis attempting to take Kyiv They met with fierce resistance from Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces As has been amply documented in the past seven weeks what the invaders struggled or failed to accomplish against the defending army they simply took out on civilians blasting away at anyone and anything trying to escape the horror En route I saw a white Ford sedan with a white flag tied to the antenna and “дети” (the Russian word for children) scrawled on either side The same cautionary word had been painted on either side of the pavement of the Donetsk Regional Drama Theater in besieged Mariupol which the Russians bombed anyway with a laser-guided munition killing as many as 300 sheltering in the basement The Ford met with much the same indifference: There were bullet holes in the windshield and I saw the spare tire surrounded by tiny socks with animal caricatures scattered about it The bodies of the passengers had already been recovered In Borodyanka bodies did not line the streets where corpses with hands tied behind their back and gunshot wounds to the head greeted returning Ukrainian troops and where still more atrocities are being uncovered Most of the dead in Borodyanka have been buried already: not by their families but by the tonnage of rubble that fell on them when Russian warplanes began rocketing apartment complexes on the morning of March 1 According to resident Oleksandr Tymoshenko the aerial assault on his hometown followed a barrage of Russian artillery and tank fire Oleksandr was hiding with his family in a yellow house behind one of the complexes “The first thing we heard was the sound of airplanes overhead,” he said The roof was destroyed.” Oleksandr’s tool shed where I found him clearing out his belongings Rescuers reportedly managed to save around 200 survivors who took refuge for more than two days in the basements and cellars of the targeted buildings But the Russians in Borodyanka fired at those who tried to remove the wreckage to save more This is why Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova have said they fear a higher butcher’s bill in Borodyanka than in Bucha The middle of one five-story apartment building is now see-through with only the forward-facing facade of the uppermost story running across what’s left of either side blackened from smoke and soot Workers from Ukraine’s emergency services were using earth-moving equipment to lift the ruins in a search for bodies Auden called the “unmentionable odor of death,” but a death as yet underground hidden from view and perhaps more menacing was filming a Volvo crane removing a giant slab of wall from the pile when a bit of dust blew into her eyes Central Street pours out into a roundabout with a large park complete with a playground; at its heart stands a monument to Taras Shevchenko I can recall from the earliest days of the war seeing this statue slightly damaged the head seemingly slumped lower on the shoulders than the sculptor intended A man on a ladder was wrapping a white bandage around Shevchenko’s head as though the bust were a living casualty of this carnage Bullets and missiles have ripped not just through flesh and bone but through the very tissue of Ukraine’s unique history and cultural heritage “Denazification,” Putin’s initial pretext for what he dubbed a “special military operation,” is now wedded to the very concept of Ukrainianness a prominent Russian state-owned press organ every Ukrainian — from 96-year-old Holocaust survivor Borys Romanchenko (killed by a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv) to the retired schoolteacher Auntie Lydie (shot by a Russian outside her front door in Bucha) — is a “Nazi” marked for extermination Russian bombs perforce collapse places where noncombatants work President Joe Biden has now taken to calling Putin’s war a campaign of genocide I asked Venediktova if what she has seen so far meets that admittedly contentious legal definition But as a prosecutor I have to find all evidence but according to international humanitarian law There are very high standards of evidence for this.” Ukraine has invited any number of legal and forensic experts from foreign countries to come and see for themselves and collect the evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity for possible use at The Hague They could start with the park in the roundabout Scattered around Shevchenko’s monument were the possessions of the missing blasted yards clean across the street by the force of the explosions shoes (mercifully absent dismembered feet) for first place at the All-Ukrainian Olympiad for the English language at her school A notebook belonging to another young girl listed her goals: “To have a very nice income To have a good environment of people who are useful and full of life her list of gratitudes and pearls of wisdom: “There is no sense in saving money; there is only sense in earning more money.” Someone had left water and kibble for the strays Ownerless dogs have come to visually embody Ukraine’s devastation as much as anything Three hundred and fifty-five died in shelters during Russia’s occupation and 150 survived Half-starved German Shepherds roamed the ghostly streets looking for food A smaller mutt shot in and out of one of the standing apartment buildings on Central Street gratefully rolling over on his back to receive a friendly belly scratch before I realized the poor thing was lying in shards of broken glass Here I discovered another way of Russian warfare: What is not shot or pulverized is desecrated and defiled Every apartment in a building we walked through had been looted and ransacked with the locked doors pried open and barely on their hinges that seemed secure was also the one I didn’t want to walk through It’s mined,” stated a ripped-off piece of cardboard in Ukrainian affixed to the handle an emptied lockbox sat on the foyer floor alongside an equally emptied purse The jewelry box on the wardrobe contained only a few rings A photo album was emptied of the couple’s wedding photos from his medical outpatient chart and rang him on our way back to Kyiv He and his wife had fled Borodyanka before the Russians rolled in He’s now deployed with the Ukrainian armed forces in the west of the country and seemed grateful that at least some of his captured memories were in safekeeping and would be returned to him Mikhail professed to be more surprised that the invaders didn’t steal his blender microwave and pressure cooker than he was that a Russian soldier had shit on his kitchen floor Ukrainian morale and fortitude have arguably competed with Javelin and NLAW anti-tank missiles in ensuring the first phase of the war has gone in Kyiv’s favor Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy by Anna MyroniukA destroyed apartment building in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast Russia has dropped bombs on Borodyanka in early March high-rise residential buildings in the center of Borodyanka Around 200 people have been buried alive in the basements when Russian bombs destroyed the buildings “Hope dies last,” said Anatoliy Rudnichenko speaking of whether any of these civilians could have survived He then sighed heavily and whispered: “You and I both understand that none of them are alive.” Russian planes dropped 500-kilogram bombs on the town Their residents had been hiding in the basements at the time of the attack “Borodyanka is the first town in our country where Russians bombed civilians,” Rudnichenko said The Kyiv Independent hasn’t been able to confirm it emphasizing that what Russia did to his town is the Russian government has been falsely claiming that the Russian forces are targeting only military infrastructure Borodyanka and the nearby villages returned under Ukraine’s control on April 1 when Russian troops withdrew from Kyiv Oblast after weeks of intense fighting around Kyiv the Ukrainian forces have been demining the area they have picked up enough unexploded shells to fill in three cars the rescuers started clearing the rubble and looking for bodies Borodyanka has possibly seen more civilian casualties than any other place in the region according to Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova This comes just days after Ukraine and the world were shocked by the revelations of the mass murder of civilians committed by Russian forces in Bucha But the number of victims can be even higher The gym of Borodyanka’s lyceum now serves as a humanitarian aid hub where volunteers sort food and hygiene products and put them into boxes The volunteers are residents of Borodyanka and nearby villages who have first sought help themselves and now help others Lyubov Paliura is from the village of Berestyanka located about 10 kilometers northeast of the town A Russian shell hit her house on the day of her marriage anniversary on March 19 but her husband was at home at the moment of the attack Paliura believes her family was lucky to not have suffered during the occupation much “People from Borodyanka come and you see that they barely hold up “They are so pale that it is clear that they starved,” she went on Humanitarian aid started arriving in the area just a few weeks ago Thousands of people had lived with no electricity a village located 30 kilometers to the north from Borodyanka but we shared the last bits we had with others,” Shklyarska said When her family started running out of food they decided to find a way to bake bread for themselves They had no flour but had wheat and an old manual coffee grinder they were using it to grind wheat into flour they reworked a feed chopper into a handmade wheat grinding machine “We had no bread and we wanted it so much,” Shklyarska said we had never realized what the taste of bread really is Food has just started arriving in her village Aid comes both from large organizations and from fellow Ukrainians It’s the latter that Shklyarska remembers most warmly “We open these packages and see things for kids even a jar of jam that has been started already,” she said Shklyarska says her heart warms seeing how people help one another she was among those sending humanitarian aid to locals in eastern Ukraine Now she herself receives it from other Ukrainians Russian soldiers have been looting houses of people across the villages in the Borodyanka area taking away everything and even easter baskets – they took everything,” said Zoya Chkheidze a village 25 kilometers to the north of Borodyanka the Russians covered their tanks with stolen rugs They punctured the wheels in our cars and told us to be quiet and sit at home,” said Valentyna Klymenko “They took away everything from our cellars It was like they saw TVs for the first time,” she went on They took everything from us,” Klymenko said Russian soldiers only let people flee the village in exchange for money Many people were shot dead by the Russians according to people living in the villages of Andriivka Russian soldiers shot at a car that was trying to flee Katyzhanka with a white flag “She somehow managed to jump out of the car,” local resident Tetiana the Russians shot at this child,” Tetiana said a local couple and a bishop provided first aid and took the girl to the hospital the next day She had a bullet in her hand and needed surgery “To see the car with her father and other people explode in front of her eyes…” Tetiana said “It will be a lifelong trauma for this child.” Anna Myroniuk is the head of investigations at the Kyiv Independent Anna has run investigative projects on human rights She also investigated political and corporate misconduct and alleged wrongdoings in the Ukraine army's leadership Anna holds a Masters in Investigative Journalism from the City University of London an honoree of the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Media & Marketing list the runner-up in the investigative reporting category of the 2022 European Press Prize and a finalist of the 2022 Ukraine's National Investigative Journalism Award and the 2020 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award Article4 May 2022 did you know that a rocket hit and destroyed my house?" Story of a cameraman who captured the first days of the war in Ukrainian BorodiankaPhoto: Serhiy Kylymnyk Ukrainian cameraman Serhiy Kylymnyk lived in Borodyanka which Russian troops invaded on the very first day of the war destruction and columns of armored enemy vehicles and then took his family to evacuate out of town Serhiy describes what happened in Borodianka and how refugees are now living in western Ukraine I've been an Inter TV cameraman for 25 years I left my home for the simple reason of Borodianka having been destroyed and it was just impossible to stay there any longer: there was no electricity and Kadyrov's people were roaming the streets Right now my family and I are in the Vinnytsia region You can feel the tension of the situation in our country here as well but at least there is no constant shelling People from big cities go to the western part of Ukraine Locals there are hosting refugees and are trying to help them as much as possible especially villages and small towns–Borodianka I drove for 4 hours because of huge traffic jams people were fleeing Kyiv to go to the western Ukraine and queues of cars lined up at the gas stations and decided to stay overnight so that I would not be stuck in a traffic jam again in the morning Russian tank columns started moving through the Ivankiv region not far from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant I realized that I had to go to Borodianka to be with my family so that we could think of some further moves By the middle of the day I finally made it to Borodianka Although I haven’t served in the army before But they ran out of weapons because there were too many people who wanted them That's when I realised that if I can’t help Ukraine by fighting I will film everything and show the whole world what is really happening here the first tank column approached Borodyanka They had the letter V painted on their tanks Afterwards our people said that those who entered from Belarus had a V sign This first column could not pass through Borodianka our guys (territorial defence or the Armed forces) barricaded the central street with tires and set them on fire and the invading column was forced to turn to the ring road I filmed all of it and sent it to various TV channels in Canada a new Russian convoy passed directly through Borodianka I have an apartment on the fourth floor on Tsentralnaya Street And it was at that moment that one of the tanks fired at my apartment block and hit one of the entrances I thought it was better to stay for the night I locked myself in the bathroom and waited for these tank columns to pass driving through and shooting at the houses in the first days of this war our forces fought back all right lots of Russian APCs were destroyed and abandoned in the streets I don't know who exactly did the fighting the territorial defense or the Armed forces but they at least were shelling in the streets my family left the apartment block to stay at our friends' house Here's Borodianka town plan: there's this central Tsentralnaya street with its five- and nine-story apartment blocks and the smaller streets with detached houses are branching out my sister left her apartment and went to stay with them with her husband and two children It was clear that the column might shoot at the apartment buildings on Tsentralnaya street so everyone tried to leave and go somewhere else I spent the night of March 1 in the bathroom of my apartment and I heard heavy military equipment moving They were shooting and firing all night long I went out and looked at Borodianka: it was total destruction and from March 1 I was with my family at our friends’ house the columns of Russian military equipment were there again walked to the district that we call the Circle where the main road forks into several smaller ones in the directions of Makariv the Circle was in ruins after the air strikes It's good that my daughter and my grandson moved to this detached house they simply don't have an apartment anymore There was also a lot of Russian equipment lined up the columns were going through Borodianka again And in the evening we heard the sound of an airplane the windows were knocked out by shock waves I had a chance to see Tsentralnaya Street one last time: destroyed nine-story apartment blocks Kadyrov's people walking among the rubble That's how they report to their higher-ups Kadyrov’s troops followed the first three Russian columns These columns passed our town and went further: the bridges in Irpin and Bucha were blown up by our army and the Russian columns probably had to get to the Zhytomyr highway and the only way they had was going through Borodianka in the direction of Makariv Kadyrov’s people stayed in Borodianka as occupying troops There is a a care house for elderly and disabled people and for 10 days Kadyrovtsy did not let evacuate some 500 people They would not allow a humanitarian convoy to pick those people up Underneath those destroyed high-rise buildings at Tsentralnaya Street there were basements that people were using as bomb shelters I don't know how many of those survived and a lot of people are still trying to find their relatives and loved ones My mom and my sister with her husband and their two children left on March 1 and our friends whose house we have lived in since February 27 It was clear that they were somewhere on the road My kum called from Borodianka and said: “I see your father here in the yard.” It turned out that my father did not want to leave with his sister The good thing is that I managed to persuade my kum to evacuate my father We all met close to Vinnytsia where our relatives live they got us all settled in different houses I had no time to process everything while organizing the evacuation of our family but during the road trip I was struck when my grandson Yegor said: “Grandpa did you know that a rocket hit and destroyed my house Will you build me a new one?” It was the hardest moment to realise that a four-year-old child understands everything so clearly People are leaving the Vinnytsia region [for Poland] There are volunteers making runs along the Lviv-Odessa highway My daughter and Yegor left for Lviv planning to get across the border with Poland but we don’t know how things will develop in the Vinnytsia region but my friends from Vinnytsia are leaving the city At first I got scared of the sounds: whenever someone slammed the door warm attitudes are very helpful and therapeutic and humanitarian aid is being delivered there They are preparing for more people to come because the flow of refugees does not stop But I respect those Russians who now support us and help my country survive and win this war And only on Forgiveness Sunday she sent me some generic image saying "Forgive me if I have wronged you in any way." And that's it You know what they say about art: love art in yourself and the only thing they love in this world is themselves Mediazona is in a tough spot—we still haven’t recovered our pre-war level of donations If we don’t reach at least 5,000 monthly subscribers soon Nearly 105,000 deaths confirmed by April 25 and Artyom Krieger were accused of producing media content for ACF Antonina Favorskaya says she was transported in coffin‑sized compartments without seatbelts Telegram’s press office claims the channel’s owner likely deleted it due to “unauthorized access” by Kostyantyn ChernichkinUkrainian serviceman passes by a building destroyed by a bomb in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6 (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)A monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko damaged by the Russian air strikes on the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Destroyed houses in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast are seen on April 6 (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Emergency services workers search for people amid the rubble in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6 (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)A woman walks in front of a residential building destroyed by Russian bombing in early March in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6 (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Dmytro Sadofiev goes through his belongings in his kitchen in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6 The town has suffered from Russian bombing in early March (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Locals pass by the remains of an apartment building in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6 The building was hit by a Russian bomb in early March (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)A view of a partially destroyed apartment of Dmytro Sadofiev’s daughter in an apartment block that had been hit by Russian bombing in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6 (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)A local woman carries belongings from the nearly destroyed apartment buildings in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6 (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Remains of an apartment building in Borodyanka Russia dropped heavy bombs on the city in early March a town of 12,000 people 40 kilometers northwest of Kyiv has suffered some of the worst destruction seen by any place in Russia's war against Ukraine More than 10 apartment buildings in the heart of the town were destroyed by Russia's bombs in early March when Ukraine regained control of Borodyanka it became possible to start clearing the rubble Hundreds of people are expected to be found buried under the rubble Read more about Borodyanka here. Two clerics’ war fuelled by interchurch tensions with claims of abetting deportations and colluding with the Kremlin A near two-decade grudge between two priests fuelled by fierce interchurch tensions and the pursuit of local dominance has escalated into tit-for-tat claims of attempted murder collaboration in forced deportations and vigilante vandalism An uncomfortable introduction as younger men 18 years ago and a few awkward moments at local community events have spiralled into each threatening God’s judgment on the other The chief accuser of the two is Father Dmytro Koshka, rector at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, of the Orthodox church of Ukraine It is not to be confused with the Moscow-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox church sitting in the shade of his church’s porch as a line of local people waited to be handed spare clothes a short drive down Lesi Ukrainky boulevard had directed Russian soldiers to hunt him down at the height of their occupation on 2 March Father Dmytro Koshka says his rival directed Russian soldiers to hunt him down Photograph: Daniel Boffey/The Guardian“I received a call from the territorial defence fighters because I am also a member of the Borodyanka territorial defence,” Koshka said “They said they were asking me to leave my house because the Moscow father had received Russian soldiers and cooperated with them.” Koshka said he left the next day for the sake of his wife a village 15 miles north-west of Borodyanka “The territorial defence told me that when Russian soldiers came to the church to look for me They had all the information about me,” he said “I used to be a deputy of the city council And this is access to public information about me He gave them all this information … I know him very well.” who did not offer any evidence for his claims went on: “He gave [the Russian soldiers] shelter in his church He then stationed their military equipment on his farm Everyone knows about it and everyone has seen it.” was that Talko allowed his church to be part of a “trick” on people desperate to escape the shelling in the town Local people received a text message from an anonymous number inviting them to meet at Talko’s church to be evacuated – but they had not been told that their destination was Russia-allied Belarus Borodyanka was badly damaged during by Russian shelling Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images“The SBU [Ukrainian secret services] is dealing with him because he helped to smuggle people to Belarus his family got into a minibus and started running another bridge was blown up and in third place was the Ukrainian army not a priest but a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” sitting among the cherry trees and blackberry bushes in the pretty grounds of his own church angrily denied most of the claims and all of Koshka’s interpretation of the events during the Russian occupation calling his fellow priest “spiritually ill” and saying he was seeking to stir up enmity Talko said he was being unfairly accused of being an agent of the Russian army owing to the historical links between his denomination and Moscow saying he was picked up by the Ukrainian secret services on 2 April and interrogated for six days in a gymnasium in Kyiv Talko said he had only ever tried to help local people by asking for flour from the Russians and denied giving the invaders information about Koshka “I have no problems with the Ukrainian government,” said Talko who has led his church in Borodyanka for 30 years “They accuse me of allegedly collaborating with the Russian occupation forces I turned to Russian soldiers only for help for Ukrainian civilians We asked for flour from Russian soldiers to bake bread for people in our church And the Ukrainian authorities cannot understand how this is so – the enemy helped the Ukrainian priest Ukrainian authorities now portray Russian soldiers as terrible the Russian soldiers here were different.” Grasping what he said was a letter of thanks from a Borodyanka family who had since moved and were uncontactable Talko said people had been grateful for his help in getting them to Belarus 1:12Borodyanka residents return to destroyed homes – video“Please see what letters people wrote to me whom I helped to evacuate to Belarus,” he said We helped evacuate our Ukrainian people through the Belarusian Red Cross We asked for the Belarusian Red Cross and they evacuated people to Belarus “Our church helped evacuate 80 people to Belarus And we also helped evacuate people to western Ukraine We helped evacuate 1,500 people to western Ukraine.” Koshka’s church had been formed merely to challenge his own adding that he believed Koshka had encouraged people to throw molotov cocktails into an outhouse by the gates to his church’s estate “Here you see a burnt building near the church?” he asked he approached me with such a strange expression on his face If I was not a priest I would be talking to him differently now The artist posted the picture on his Instagram The work was painted on the wall of a house in Borodyanka which was badly damaged during the Russian attack The artist drew a gymnast doing a handstand as if leaning on the ruins Banksy's unique anti-war painting CND Soldiers was sold for GBP 81,000 (over USD 106,000) at a charity auction in London to support Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kyiv The funds were transferred to the Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital where children injured as a result of Russian aggression are treated Banksy is a pseudonymous English Graffiti artist A column of enemy vehicles has been destroyed near the urban-type village of Borodianka The relevant statement was made by Kyiv Region’s Police on its Facebook page [Ukrainian] defenders destroyed an enemy column of V-marked military vehicles they were used to transport large caliber ammunition and food products from Ukrainian stores Bucha District’s police seized ammunition,” the report states The V-marked vehicles are known to be used by the so-called Kadyrov’s men Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed A destroyed building in the town of Borodyanka This episode was produced by Brent Baughman It was edited by Sarah Handel and Ashley Brown But Raisa Yakovenko, a 61-year-old pensioner, still jumps at the thump of a refrigerator door shutting — a faint echo of the Russian bombs that damaged her apartment and ravaged this community in the opening days of the nearly 9-month-old war in Ukraine lives in an apartment badly damaged by Russian attacks on Borodyanka early in the war named after the antitank missiles used by Ukrainian forces (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) “My troubles are not so serious,” she said “They didn’t expect us to fight back,” said Roman Rudnychenko, 57, who works for the town as its lead architect. World & Nation Rolling blackouts protect the bomb-damaged power grid in the Ukrainian capital nearly seven months after Russian troops ended a brief but brutal occupation Borodyanka has come to symbolize a certain defiant resiliency Visiting foreign dignitaries regularly trek up from Kyiv to gaze upon — and be photographed in front of — the blackened tower blocks the British street artist known as Banksy unveiled a signature stencil-style mural on the side of a heavily damaged apartment building depicting a gymnast doing a handstand atop a pile of rubble “Borodyanka, Ukraine,” read the caption on the artist’s Instagram account Only a little over half the town’s population has come back townspeople and local authorities are racing to carry out repairs to make the cold months survivable In a sense, Borodyanka is Ukraine writ small. As more and more territory in the south and northeast is recaptured by Ukrainian forces the receding tide of occupation leaves behind a landscape of battered cities The latest of those is the strategic southern city of Kherson, which Russian troops abandoned last week, smashing vital infrastructure as they went. President Volodymyr Zelensky, rapturously received by local people when he visited Kherson on Monday, hailed its residents as heroes and pledged to restore essential services as soon as possible. But across the country, rebuilding is a fraught, quandary-filled endeavor. With nationwide reconstruction costs already estimated at a staggering $350 billion, and nearly one-third of the country’s 44 million people displaced inside Ukraine or having fled abroad, Ukrainians grapple with constant, harsh reassessments: Stay or go? Rebuild, or start fresh elsewhere? Cling to memories, or put them aside? “We’re part of a historic process,” said Rudnychenko, the architect. “But we don’t know yet how the story ends.” A street with the simple name of Tsentralna — Central — cuts a straight line through Borodyanka, bisecting neighborhoods of modest wood or brick homes that give way to forests and fields. It’s lined with large apartment buildings, many dating back to the Soviet era, punctuated by small businesses, the post office and the police station. Even in its prewar heyday, the street might have appeared unprepossessing to outsiders. But for Olga Drabei, 34, who lived her entire life at Tsentralna 306, her third-floor flat represents “everything — my entire childhood, marriage, motherhood, all that is dear to me.” Drabei and her husband, together with their 7-year-old son, hope to move back in soon from cramped temporary quarters nearby. But her parents and 89-year-old grandmother, who lived with them before the war, may not rejoin them. War’s upheaval has already been too much. On a dank day last week, Drabei showed visitors around the apartment’s chilly, jumbled rooms. The television and most appliances had been looted. Her son had already outgrown a small child’s bed left behind in a corner. The once carefully tended garden behind the building was a tangle of weeds and bare tree branches. Children play in dark hallways at the middle school in downtown Borodyanka on Nov. 10, 2022. The electricity is on only sporadically. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) “We’re lucky — we’re alive, and we have a place to return to,” Drabei said. “Life will come back to our town. It will just be different than before.” Just down the street, at Tsentralna 367, Yakovenko, the pensioner, lives alone with her kitten, Javelinka — named after the antitank missiles that helped Ukrainian forces blunt the Russian offensive aimed at Kyiv. The damage to her building happened when missiles slammed into a military recruitment office across the street in early March, nearly flattening it, along with the adjoining greengrocer’s and pharmacy. Unexpected noises still make her nervous, she said, but stroking Javelinka helps her calm down. The Times’ Carolyn Cole is on the ground in Ukraine as residents prepare for winter’s cold amid Russian missile strikes against the nation’s infrastructure Yakovenko made do with plastic and cardboard coverings all spring and summer She was still waiting for a door to replace the one that was blasted off its hinges Along with virtually everyone on Tsentralna a young police officer who once lived on the street Children in Borodyanka play in the shadow of buildings left in ruins by the Russian invasion more than eight months ago (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) On Feb the 26-year-old was on duty at the station when his family home was bombed brother and grandmother were killed outright; his month-old baby daughter “The sadness is so large sometimes,” Yakovenko said a 73-year-old named Halyna waved from her window at departing visitors She cracked it open to explain that her own apartment down the street was destroyed By cruel coincidence, nearly all the Borodyanka men mobilized for military service are deployed at the scene of a particularly brutal ongoing battle, in and near the town of Bakhmut, hundreds of miles away on the eastern front lines. The funeral procession for soldier Oleksii Kozlenko proceeds up Tsentralna street in Borodyanka. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) One day last week, the body of fallen soldier Oleksii Kozlenko, 32, arrived home. As the funeral procession moved up Tsentralna, a group of women who had gathered to receive aid packages from the municipality turned and knelt down as the coffin passed. “Every day, it seems that we bury someone,” said Rudnychenko, the architect. Farther down Tsentralna, at the Flower Cafe — which sells plants and bouquets as well as food — proprietress Tetiana Lytvynenko, 33, was serving up paninis and coffee. Business was a bit slow, she said. The cafe sits opposite the much-photographed pair of nine-story buildings with blackened facades, just across the street from the Banksy mural on an adjoining building. Lytvynenko said it was understandable that outsiders would come to see these things; even she is sometimes shocked by the sight of the sooty, hulking husks where so many of her customers once lived. “When people come to see, I just wish more of them would order some food!” she said. The small, bright cafe that she and her husband ran for a decade was badly bomb-damaged, but because it’s a modular kiosk, it wasn’t too difficult to replace. That wasn’t the case with their nearby apartment. While sheltering outside Borodyanka with their young son, the couple spotted the smoking ruins of their building in news footage. “At first, we were shocked and crying, but we’ve passed that phase,” she said. “Now we just laugh.” Laura King is a former reporter with the Los Angeles Times who primarily covered foreign affairs. She previously served as bureau chief in Jerusalem, Kabul and Cairo. Carolyn Cole is a former staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. Her coverage of the civil crisis in Liberia won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Cole has been named U.S. newspaper photographer of the year three times. Cole grew up in California and Virginia, before attending the University of Texas, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She went on to earn a master of art’s degree from Ohio University. Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map your new go-to podcast to spice up your weekday mornings with relevant news and behind-the-scenes from Brussels and beyond From the economy to the climate and the EU's role in world affairs this talk show sheds light on European affairs and the issues that impact on our daily lives as Europeans Tune in to understand the ins and outs of European politics Dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries Deep dive conversations with business leaders Euronews Tech Talks goes beyond discussions to explore the impact of new technologies on our lives the podcast provides valuable insights into the intersection of technology and society Europe's water is under increasing pressure floods are taking their toll on our drinking water Join us on a journey around Europe to see why protecting ecosystems matters and to discover some of the best water solutions an animated explainer series and live debate - find out why Water Matters We give you the latest climate facts from the world’s leading source analyse the trends and explain how our planet is changing We meet the experts on the front line of climate change who explore new strategies to mitigate and adapt Ukraine says it fears civilian massacres worse than the one in Bucha will be discovered as Russian troops retreat from areas around Kyiv The scene in Bucha -- which included the dead bodies of civilians lying in the street -- sparked accusations of genocide Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected the allegations saying it was a “stage-managed anti-Russian provocation” asked by Euronews to respond to Lavrov's claim said dozens of journalists from across the world had been to Bucha to verify what had happened and that he'd not heard "one single claim it was stage-managed" Nykyforov says there is now concern that the alleged Russian behaviour in Bucha is systematic and that more atrocities will be uncovered in the coming days in towns and cities further north of Kyiv "We are afraid that we will find something similar than that has been uncovered in Bucha," he told Euronews "There are some indications in the town of Borodyanka that the situation might have been even worse "And I have to remind you that there are many other Ukrainian towns and cities still under Russian occupation and we are very worried it will be a systematic behaviour of Russian troops."  Ukrainian prosecutor-general Iryna Venediktova gave weight to Nykyforov's claims She told Ukrainian TV that a “similar humanitarian situation” to Bucha exists in other parts of the country where Russian forces recently left such as the areas around the northern cities of Sumy and Chernihiv Ukrainian authorities said the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in areas outside the Ukrainian capital after last week’s withdrawal of Russian troops close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture which is further from Kyiv and was also held by Russian forces until recently Venediktova didn’t specify what exactly had happened in Borodyanka but said “the worst situation in terms of the victims” is there After surviving World War Two and the fall of the Soviet Union Zinaida Makishaiva now has her chickens to thank for getting through her most recent ordeal - the brief but brutal occupation of her town by Russian troops The 82-year-old was not too shaken when Russian tanks first showed up in early March in Borodyanka but then Grad missiles smashed into her home A neighbour next door was killed by shelling And then Russian troops began to visit every day established since early childhood when she started "rural work" were soon punctured by shelling and missile attacks I didn't have time to bring logs because of the shelling That's how they destroyed all those houses.. What I know is: one missile - no house," said Makishaiva who spent much of her life in Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Odesa I took the chickens in because I needed something to eat I didn’t have anything to eat except for potatoes One day several soldiers entered her house Makishaiva braved crossfire to fetch pails of water from a nearby well she still had the eggs laid by her own chickens as her one son and three grandchildren live in different parts of the country Since Borodyanka was retaken by Ukrainian forces over a week ago who used to love dancing the waltz when she was younger past shattered buildings and wrecked Russian tanks to collect whatever food aid is available at the town's community centre or church Thirty days of sleepless nights are now a thing of the past I take some valerian and sleep soundly until 5 I pray that this has passed and the fighting won’t come back again,” Makishaiva said Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb 24 in what it called “a special operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” its southern neighbour Kyiv and its Western backers say this is a pretext for an act of unprovoked aggression Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance to the invasion and the West has imposed sweeping economic sanctions on Russia (Photo Editing Kezia Levitas; Additional Reporting Zohra Bensemra; Text Editing Gareth Jones; Layout Kezia Levitas) Makishaiva meets her neighbour Oksana Surul beside a house that they claim was destroyed by Russian shelling A man carries humanitarian aid supplies past the Borodyanka district employment centre Makishaiva arrives home after receiving humanitarian aid supplies The words "I love Russia" are painted on the gates of a house that belonged to a man who residents claim was killed by Russian troops Maksuta reacts while he recounts how his neighbour Yurii Ostapchuk Makishaiva stands in the doorway of her kitchen Makishaiva tries to get a chicken out of her bedroom Makishaiva lights a candle as she stands in her kitchen Makishaiva uses a magnifying glass to read a book The hand of Makishaiva rests on a dog enclosure It will kill you" hangs on a fence at the Borodyanka district employment centre Makishaiva talks to her neighbour Alla Molchanova rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Makishaiva collects food aid at a churchyard Makishaiva reacts as she recounts how Russian soldiers treated her that residents say was was destroyed by Russian shelling A sign that reads "there are people here" is seen on the gates of Makishaiva's house Women walk past shops destroyed by Russian shelling Graffiti of a woman in a leotard doing a handstand is seen on the wall of a destroyed building in Borodyanka on Friday in Kyiv Region Ukraine said the town of Borodyanka, near Kyiv, would likely record a higher death toll than Bucha the town where hundreds of civilians were estimated to be killed and Russia was accused of war crimes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about Bucha in a Tuesday speech where he added that the death toll could be higher in other cities that Ukraine recently reclaimed from Russian forces Ukraine said it retook control of Bucha earlier this week "There is already information that the number of victims of the occupiers may be even higher in Borodyanka and some other liberated cities," Zelenskyy said "In many villages of the liberated districts of the Kyiv the occupiers did things that the locals had not seen even during the Nazi occupation 80 years ago The occupiers will definitely bear responsibility for this," he continued Ukrainian officials said about 300 people were found dead in Bucha after Russian forces left the town But Zelenskyy said the death toll there would likely rise as officials and investigators looked through the town also said Borodyanka likely had a higher death toll than Bucha Russia has been accused of war crimes in Bucha and Zelenskyy accused Russia of genocide there and that some women there were raped before they were killed.  US President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" over the events in Bucha and said he was planning more sanctions This was announced on Facebook by the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration Ruslan Kravchenko "In Borodyanka, the restoration of Lyceum No. 1, which was almost completely destroyed by the Russian occupiers at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, has been completed. The Lithuanian government helped to rebuild the institution," Kravchenko wrote He noted that more than 500 children studied here before the war and the material and technical base of the lyceum was completely destroyed Kravchenko assured that the institution was reconstructed in accordance with modern standards and requirements head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration The educational space has been completely modernized an atrium has been set up where students can hold extracurricular activities interactive panels and computer equipment were installed in classrooms and laboratories The educational process will become more modern The lyceum also has a comfortable conference room designed to host large-scale events Lyceum students will also receive hot meals The lyceum has a canteen with the most modern equipment for preparing healthy and tasty food A comfortable 1000 m2 shelter was built to ensure the safety of the educational process An elevator is provided for people with limited mobility A modern ventilation system has been installed The head of RMA said that the cost of the lyceum reconstruction and shelter arrangement exceeded UAH 370 million "We are grateful to our international partners who are actively helping to rebuild educational institutions in Kyiv region This is not the first project implemented by the Lithuanian government Lithuania also plans to continue to help us in this process which has proved its support not in word but in deed We thank the Government and citizens of Lithuania," Kravchenko added as a result of Russia's full-scale invasion of Kyiv region 244 educational institutions were destroyed and damaged 200 schools and kindergartens have been restored Graffiti artist appears to confirm presence in war-torn country after unveiling latest work on Instagram Banksy appears to have confirmed he is in Ukraine after revealing his latest artwork on Instagram Speculation had been mounting that the anonymous graffiti artist was in the war-torn country after a series of murals appeared in the town of Borodianka One mural depicted a man resembling the Russian president being thrown to the floor during a judo match with a young boy A work thought to be by Banksy in Borodianka Photograph: Ed Ram/Getty ImagesAnother showed two children using a metal tank trap as a seesaw However, the mural that Banksy used to reveal his presence in the country is of a female gymnast balancing on the rubble of a damaged building The Bristol-based artist, whose work sells for millions of pounds, posted three images of the mural on Instagram on Friday with the caption simply reading: “Borodyanka The gymnast mural. Photograph: Banksy/Instagram/PABorodianka, a town north-west of Kyiv, was pummelled by Russian bombs at the beginning of the invasion rolling in from the Belarusian border 200 miles to the north Borodianka was one of the towns hardest hit by Russia’s bombardments Ukrainian investigators found dozens of mass graves where the bodies of civilians – tortured and killed – had been buried Moscow had unleashed cluster munitions and powerful unguided bombs in the populated areas of Borodianka the town has been the focus of reconstruction efforts with several tower blocks demolished as a result of damage caused by the fighting.