My brain nearly exploded when President Donald Trump declared that Ukraine started the war with Russia And then the awful meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Secretary of State Marco Rubio nearly finished me off This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Chattanooga Times Free Press Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2025 audio and/or video material shall not be published rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use The AP will not be held liable for any delays errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing Green Planet Energy and the Greenpeace Environmental Foundation take another step towards green reconstruction of Ukraine 9.1.2025: Greenpeace is launching a groundbreaking lighthouse project for green reconstruction in Ukraine a large multi-family building in the Ukrainian city of Trostyanets will be supplied with heat from renewable energy The project is one of the first of its kind where a multi-family building is supplied with geothermal and solar energy The apartment block was badly damaged at the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and is now being rebuilt green and equipped with two large heat pumps and solar panels will be supplied with renewable energy.  “This model project shows the irrepressible will of the city of Trostyanets to emerge from the Russian war of aggression stronger than ever before The project is a real inspiration for Ukraine at a difficult time and another signal to Europe that many Ukrainians are willing to rely on future technologies,” says Andree Boehling “We are pursuing the approach that our citizens will find a better city worth living in after its reconstruction Money for reconstruction from Europe must be invested in the future and not in past technologies,” says Yuriy Bova “The project made a deep impression on us and it quickly became clear that we wanted to get involved Our customers make it possible: Anyone who opts for our Solar Power Plus tariff supports solar projects with one cent per kilowatt hour consumed Ukraine is experiencing a severe energy crisis this winter our customers make it possible for us to contribute to a secure and clean energy supply for the people of Trostyanets” The heating concept for the residential building has been developed in recent months through various feasibility studies and will now be installed by spring 2025 Two large heat pumps (an air-water-based pump with 38 kilowatt and a groundwater-based pump with 80 kilowatt) and a solar PV system with 10 kilowatt per hour will be used The project is financed by the green energy cooperative Green Planet Energy the Greenpeace Environmental Foundation and Greenpeace e.V Greenpeace has been supporting the city of Trostyanets on its way to becoming a model city for ecological reconstruction and a green energy supply This lighthouse project is intended to help develop ways and financing models to convert all 113 apartment blocks in the city and in the country to future technologies such as heat pumps and solar energy the electricity and heat supply destroyed by the war of aggression will be restored and the buildings will be supplied with self-produced Daryna Rogachuk, Communications Manager at Greenpeace Ukraine, [email protected],  +389 63 598 2600 Theresa Gral, Communications for Greenpeace Central- and Eastern Europe, [email protected] during the second day of SolarPower Europe’s annual SolarPower Summit event in Brussels at the initiative of Greenpeace and in cooperation with partners was the first in Ukraine to be rebuilt entirely with green technologies 28.2.2025: Ukrainian President Zelenskyi is planning on signing a deal with US President Trump on 28th of February They plan to agree on a joint fund that will be… Please select which cookies you are willing to store These cookies are required for technical reasons so that you can visit our website and use the functions we offer These cookies are used to recognise you between successive visits and thus provide you with a better experience storing your consent preferences and the last Greenpeace.org website visited We use tracking and analysis tools to ensure continuous optimisation and demand-oriented design of our website These cookies will allow us to collect statistical and anonymised data such as how visitors use our website or which pages are accessed most frequently to ultimately improve Greenpeace.org and provide you with a better experience of our website In addition to the Performance cookies mentioned above we may also place in your browser cookies from third-party services (e.g Facebook or Google) to track the effectiveness of our online marketing strategies and to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests These cookies may also be used to serve advertising to you after you have left our site (retargeting cookies) Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker 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 Tetiana Sydorenko shows what was left of the Trostyanets hospital's maternity ward after the Russian bombardment Ukraine — Walking through the heavily shelled second floor maternity ward Hanna Shvetsova stops to stare at a glossy picture of a blond baby lying on a white pillow It's the kind of image seen in countless ads for baby products Six babies were delivered here at Trostyanets Hospital during the Russian occupation Shvetsova says most of those were conducted in the hallways where they felt a bit safer working between two extra walls "I could have died three times with my patients," she says She says the third was when she decided to walk a new mother home around the tanks through a forest that she later learned was full of land mines A man pushes his bike through mud and debris past a destroyed Russian tank as he surveys damage in front of the central train station that was used as a Russian base The liberation of this small northern Ukrainian town just 22 miles from the Russian border after four weeks of occupation was not only a great victory for the people of Trostyanets local officials are only just beginning to understand the long-term impacts of the devastating Russian occupation The factories that employed thousands of workers have been destroyed And in a sign of what other liberated Ukrainian communities will face the biggest challenge for Trostyanets is likely not rebuilding the town's infrastructure but recovering from the psychological scars of the occupation shows one of the Russian tanks he says was firing on the town's hospital The first Russian troops arrived in Trostyanets on Feb as Russian forces started their initial push toward the west The Russians quickly took control of City Hall and the local police department Thousands of jobs were lost when the local chocolate factory and wood factory were destroyed He said hundreds more were lost when the bombed-out train station stopped working "It's very hard because the infrastructure of the city is almost destroyed," Skorohodov says we don't have any abilities to go back to normal life because it needs much financial resources to reconstruct the infrastructure subjects in the city." He worries more about the scars on people's minds before Ukrainian forces were able to wrest back control of the city Bova says most everyone in the community lost a family member or a friend And some also had to live alongside the dead because they did not want to risk leaving their homes and getting killed by the Russians — or caught in the crossfire "The trauma that people experienced will last for years," Bova tells NPR "It's something that can't be cured by humanitarian aid." Many resident fear the Russians will return again They imagine troops sitting and waiting on the border "It's hard to imagine this happening again," says Myroslav Shylo "I don't know if I could survive psychologically." secretly secured flour so that he could make bread and stole fuel from the gas station so that he could deliver it to the neediest residents including patients and doctors at the hospital hundreds of desperate residents were standing in line outside his shop waiting to get a loaf of bread for their families "This is the only place you can get food." is outside his bakery as Ukrainians line up waiting for bread Nowhere is that trauma as apparent as at the local hospital The once state-of-the-art facility renovated last fall looks as if it could crumble at any moment Two large slabs of the exterior walls — almost as big as the tanks that likely fired on them — have been torn off says staff continued to work throughout the occupation Without windows and in some places no walls Some of the last days of the occupation were also the worst forcing patients and doctors to the basement Sydorenko says they had to use flashlights She never wants to go back to that basement Shvetsova says the staff and patients cried a lot — and laughed when they could She says they had a job to do and figured out ways to keep doing it "One baby was born in the bomb shelter during the heavy fighting Everyone got quiet waiting to hear the child When she finally cried — everyone cheered." She said it was the one moment when everyone forgot about the shelling Become an NPR sponsor Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Karishma Singh Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab New York-based reporter covering U.S. consumer products and the companies that make them, and the role they play in the economy. Previously reported on corporate boards and distressed companies. Her work has included high-impact stories on CEO pay, Wall Street bubbles and retail bankruptcies. , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Cities and towns across northern Ukraine are being freed by Ukrainian forces as the Russians redeploy to the east. One such city is Trostyanets, northwest of Kharkiv, the site of pitched fighting until its liberation two weeks ago. Special correspondent Jack Hewson and videographer Ed Ram traveled there, and found a city destroyed and its people reeling. Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Cities and towns across Northern Ukraine are being freed by Ukrainian forces, as the Russians redeployed to the east. One such city is Trostyanets, northwest of Kharkiv, the site of pitched fighting until its liberation two weeks ago. Special correspondent Jack Hewson and videographer Ed Ram traveled there and found a city destroyed, its people reeling. The scars of battle in the recently liberated town of Trostyanets. Civilians try to resume daily life amid the ruins of their community. The town will take time to rebuild, but the wounds of trauma will take longer to heal. On the outskirts of the town, we meet Luba Kryuchko, mourning the loss of her grandson. Luba Kryuchko, Trostyanets Resident (through translator): The 14-year-old boy and her two neighbors were killed as Ukrainian and Russian forces battled for the town just days before its liberation on March 26. I wish he could be just alive. It doesn't matter that the flat is ruined. We can rebuild it. But I wish my grandson was alive. That would be the best thing that could happen. Luba shows us the destruction to her home. She was hiding in her basement when the artillery rounds struck. But her grandson and neighbors were not so fortunate. As she emerged above ground, she discovered a horrifying scene. The woman was lying there without her head. Look at what has happened. Her head was blown off and all her bones blown apart there in the basement too. And here was my grandson's body. He did not run to the basement in time. We were in the basement, and all of the body fragments got blown up in there also. On the way up to Luba's apartment, we meet Victor. His son was critically injured in the blast, but when they tried to take him to hospital, they were stopped by Russian troops. Victor Jukov, Trostyanets Resident (through translator): We got to the checkpoint at the crossroads between the hospital and the school. We were stopped the shot in the air and searched the car. I said: "We're going to the hospital with my injured son." They said: "Ride, but we will shoot you in the back. You can go, but we will kill you." There is a giant tear in Luba's bedroom from the strike. But her grandson's death and the serious injury to her son have left a bigger emotional hole in her life. I don't know how to explain. It's hard — hard, of course. He lives with me, a child. Until Luba finds the money to repair her apartment, she's sleeping on her neighbor's sofa. We had everything, everything, until some man got weird ideas in his head that he should destroy everything. That is all. Luba's home was struck as fronts shifted around the town's edges. When the time came, locals say Ukrainian forces took five days to retake Trostyanets. At the train station, the focal point of the battle, there is evidence of some of the fiercest fighting. This is or perhaps was the city's train station. And it's been used as a base by the Russians while they were here. You can see the scale of the fighting that's gone on here. There's so many pockmarks in the concrete. There's boxes of Russian armaments around, and the snipers positioned on top of this and seven tanks, according to locals. The Ukrainian military are already clearing the charred remnants of Russian artillery units, emblems of an embarrassing strategic failure. The town was only ever expected to be a stepping-stone to victory in Kyiv. But as advances stalled, Russia's presence in Trostyanets became an occupation. After a month in hiding, emotions run high. Residents are now reliant on humanitarian aid. Larisa Skylarova, Trostyanets Resident (through translator): They shot down people just for nothing, people that were just walking in the street with their children if they had not quickly run away. They went around with guns and kicked us out of our houses. Anon, Trostyanets Resident (through translator): I knew about the situation outside and did not go out. I was scared. You can see what happened to the city. They went into houses and beat people. They took and broke phones. They did what they wanted. They were barbarians. God says you should love your enemy. It is impossible. I only have hate. Locals say that the Russian troops were civil at first. But after a couple of weeks, the disappearances and atrocities began. Anger at Russian violations is pouring out across the liberated towns of the north. Luba's life has been changed forever. I told you that I have enough of this for the rest of my life. Until I'm dead, this pain, the hate, nothing else, the hate and anger, that is what I feel. I wish I could kill them myself, those who came here. That is all. As more alleged atrocities are uncovered, Luba is one of many burying their loved ones across Ukraine, a country reeling from its loss. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jack Hewson in Trostyanets, Ukraine. And a note: Our coverage of the war in Ukraine is supported in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. By Simon Ostrovsky, Volodymyr Solohub, Yegor Troyanovsky By Jack Hewson, Alexis Cox, Teresa Cebrian Aranda Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. © 1996 - 2025 NewsHour Productions LLC. All Rights Reserved. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Subscribe to Here's the Deal with Lisa Desjardins Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world sending a clear signal to management that investors want the snack maker to provide more clarity on its business practices in the warring countries so the company isn’t required to fulfill the request But the support passed a key threshold that can often get executives to take requests seriously and it adds more scrutiny to Mondelez’s continued presence in Russia after the withdrawal of many other Western companies Mondelez noted “there has been significant military action“ in the area of the Trostyanets plant Mondelez International’s snacks factory in north-eastern Ukraine has “suffered significant damage“ in the wake of Russia’s invasion more than five weeks ago The snacking and confectionery giant said the plant in the city of Trostyanets in the Sumy Oblast region was closed once the conflict began on 24 February suggesting the building had since been damaged amid the ongoing fighting the US-headquartered business also operates a factory in the village of Stari Petrivtsi near the capital Kyiv Tuc and Belvita biscuit brands in the country our site in Trostyanets has suffered significant damage as there has been significant military action in the entire area since the war began which we closed as soon as the war began,” Mondelez said in a statement provided to Just Food “It is too early to provide you with potential next steps for the facility but I can tell you our top priority is the safety of our people Mondelez started operations in Ukraine in 1994 It does not break down sales numbers for the country within its Europe division which generated revenues in the year to 31 December of US$11.2bn Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis Soon after the war broke out, Mondelez CEO Dirk Van de Put issued a statement on 9 March saying “our operations remain closed in Ukraine” the company announced it was “scaling back all non-essential activities in Russia while helping maintain continuity of the food supply during the challenging times ahead” Mondelez added: “We will focus our operation on basic offerings discontinue all new capital investments and suspend our advertising media spending.” In the update provided by a Mondelez spokesperson efforts are being taken to support infrastructure around the Trostyanets plant “We continue working diligently to connect with our employees although continuing telecommunications outages in the area have made it challenging to reach everyone,” the statement read “We also are beginning to work with local Ukrainian authorities in an effort to help resupply water and power to the area as well as donating food ingredients like wheat and sugar to local NGOs and arranging free bus travel to help the community travel to other areas to purchase food and household supplies.” For more on Just Food’s coverage on how the conflict is affecting the food industry, please visit our dedicated microsite Just Food parent GlobalData is providing an ongoing analysis of the war’s impact across business sectors Nominations are now open for the prestigious Just Food Excellence Awards - one of the industry's most recognised programmes celebrating innovation This is your chance to showcase your achievements Don't miss the opportunity to be honoured among the best - submit your nomination today Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network. A man rides his bike past a destroyed Russian tank in Trostyanets The small town of Trostyanets survived 31 days of Russian occupation. “My task now is to show the horrors of this war,” says its mayor.  and the surviving population — 20,000 residents lived here before the war began — is reeling from 31 days of Russian occupation After the initial Russian advance into Ukraine stalled Trostyanets became a staging area for hundreds of troops and their equipment The number of civilians killed during the occupation is still unclear Bova and other city leaders took shelter in a nearby village Now that the Russians have departed and the theater of the war in Ukraine has shifted to the southeast the mayor is taking on the task of helping the town back onto its feet With most infrastructure damaged or destroyed and residents still traumatized and lacking services Bloomberg CityLab talked to Mayor Bova about life during the occupation and what the recovery and rebuilding process could look like; the conversation has been edited and condensed One of Russia’s most famous composers once called Trostyanets home Trostyanets is a city in the north-east of Ukraine, which once played host to Russian composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky the famed 19th-century Romantic composer stayed in a villa in the city of Trostyanets It was here he composed his first symphonic work - the overture ‘The Storm’ (1864) now lies in ruin following the capture of the city on 1 March 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine where civilians were reportedly killed by Russian hand grenades Ukrainian forces used heavy shelling to gain back control of Trostyanets Though the Russian army have now left after a brutal month reminders of their occupation can be seen everywhere; buildings – including the villa – have been destroyed and the letter ‘Z’ has been graffitied on ruins and cars across the city Read more: Russian music students bravely condemn conductor’s pro-Putin ‘Z’ stunt Listen to a rare recording of Tchaikovsky's voice food and water have become dangerously scarce in Trostyanets Residents now have to line up in front of the Tchaikovsky Music School for Children During the first days of the Russian invasion the concert hall at the Tchaikovsky Music School for Children was used to register Ukrainian volunteers for the Territorial Defense Forces citizens spotted reporters from international outlets in their city and ran to them A cacophony of testimonies were given all at once to the reporters “They smashed my place up.” “They stole everything even my underwear.” “They killed a guy on my street.” “The f*****s stole my laptop and my aftershave.” Read more: Kharkiv residents soothed by classical music in underground festival as war continues in Ukraine The mayor of Trostyanets has said it is too early to give an estimate as to how many of his city’s citizens were killed Civilians in Trostyanets were reportedly targeted by hand grenades when they protested Russian occupation Due to the harrowing testimonies from the city’s residents on Monday the President of the European Commission backed an investigation into reported Russian war crimes in the country After a call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy von der Leyen said that EU investigators will help Kyiv to probe reports from Ukrainian officials and NGOs that Russian forces massacred and sexually assaulted civilians in towns near the Ukrainian capital See more Tchaikovsky latest Discover Music Joshua Bell See more Best classical music Ravel Einaudi Events A resident of Trostyanets pushes a bicycle through the rubble of the city Two men slowly walk toward each other in the frigid wind before recognizing each other and embracing in tears "You’re alive!?" More and more men and women are beginning to emerge and wander through their own city as though it was completely foreign to them Some are weeping as they view the destruction – the half-demolished buildings and burned-out factories Others are crying in relief – relief that they have survived That they are once again able to meet up with friends and family members from other parts of the city people were once again able to emerge last Sunday from their homes and basements in Trostyanets finally able to believe that the nightmare had actually come to an end The Russian troops had suddenly withdrawn on the last remaining passable road toward Russia on Friday afternoon – after having marched into this spa town of 20,000 residents in eastern Ukraine and occupied it on the very first day of the war and walking through town had become a potentially deadly undertaking huddled in the candlelight as their rations slowly disappeared not knowing what was happening in the rest of the country – or even just a couple hundred meters down the road A destroyed bus near the Trostyanets train station when the Ukrainian army rolled in with their tanks snipers riding in Kia compacts and uniformed soldiers on foot did the first residents begin emerging from their homes a good-humored soldier who is now standing watch at the ruins of the small police headquarters he mentions the sudden historic importance of Trostyanets – as the first city that was first completely occupied by Russian troops over the course of several weeks before then being liberated by the Ukrainian army The Russians are also withdrawing from other cities in Ukraine the embattled town on the outskirts of Kyiv But most of the settlements are completely destroyed fields of smoking rubble that the Russians never managed to bring completely under their control is now emerging from four weeks of Russian occupation and it provides a look at how the aimless Russian invaders rapidly transformed into a murderous horde – one which increasingly took out its fear and anger on the civilian population "Come on up," says Rastislav at the police station "but it stinks." The Russians used the place as accommodations piling up file cabinets in front of the windows for protection they defecated in the offices and auditorium on the first floor – room by room The slightly dried-out piles are everywhere on the floor and chairs the body of a civilian lies next to the inspection pit Another soldier says that he had lifted the corpse out of the pit "and first wiped off the feces." A pile had also been left on the dead body Destroyed Russian trucks near the regional administration building in Trostyanets "They took all their bodies from here with them." The occupiers made a practice of apprehending men at random looking through their phones for photos of tanks and Russian positions and forcing them to undress in the search for tattoos that could indicate that they were part of the Ukrainian military They would then shoot anyone they thought might be an enemy The Russian occupation of Trostyanets was not part of the plan The expectation had been that they would rapidly continue onwards into Kyiv the Ukrainians blew up a large bridge south of the city and the Russians turned around and occupied Trostyanets the town had been something of a tourist destination with a famous botanical garden and a neo-Gothic "Round Court" from 1749 that is used as an open-air theater The town is also home to a chocolate factory and a chocolate museum situated in an old manor house where Tchaikovsky composed his overture "The Storm" in 1864 The more recent storm began for Vladimir and Vera – he a former assistant professor for agricultural studies and she the head bookkeeper for the chocolate factory – at 5:30 a.m 24 with a call from their daughter in Kyiv which is just 30 kilometers from the Russian border The two walked to the chocolate factory to grab the digital key for all the accounts and to pick up the stamps and the most important documents out of Vera’s safe Vladimir hid his valuable diving equipment in the well at their home Trostyanets Mayor Yuri Bova: "The Russians were looking for me and wanted to kill me." when Mayor Yuri Bova spoke to the crowd that had gathered in front of City Hall What do we have?" They had five or six police officers with Kalashnikovs and a couple of pistols To fight against a six-kilometer-long armada of tanks armored personnel carriers and self-propelled artillery that had been moving into Ukraine since the early morning It was a spur of the moment decision: "Those who want to fight should immediately jump into their cars and withdraw into the forest and the surrounding villages." The others were told to go home remain quiet and photograph Russian positions a decision for which some have criticized him "The Russians were looking for me and wanted to kill me," he now says He spent all of Sunday and Monday in the concert hall of the Tchaikovsky Music School for Children registering volunteers for the Territorial Defense Forces "We didn’t have time before the invasion," he says Volunteers registering for the Territorial Defense Forces in the concert hall of a music school In the first days of the occupation one month ago Vera was able to transfer the salaries of the factory’s 800 workers and send additional sums of money abroad The factory belongs to the American snack giant Mondelez International an extremely modern facility for the production of Oreo cookies and Tuc crackers Kazakhstan and Russia is headquartered in Moscow When factory managers in Trostyanets tried to tell the regional head in Moscow that Russian troops were in the process of destroying the production site Until company executives in the United States cut off all communication Between 300 and 600 Russian troops occupied the police headquarters the train station and the airstrip for small aircraft They then set up their quarters and erected barricades they began running out of the rations they had brought along – and Ukrainian drones began attacking their positions the Russians cut off the telephone network and electricity which meant that the pump for drinking water ceased functioning as well A cold snap led to temperatures plunging to minus 19 degrees Celsius It became rather uncomfortable in the town Small groups of Russian soldiers began shooting their way into supermarkets and stores stealing the televisions from an electronics store and destroying cash registers and cash machines The destruction can still be seen several weeks later "They even plundered the second-hand clothing store," scoffs a resident who returned after the town was liberated Invade the place to make off with used clothing We would have been happy to just send it to them." Residents of Trostyanets next to a car that was destroyed in the fighting Russian controls of the population grew increasingly brutal as time passed Those found to be carrying smartphones would lose them – in the best-case scenario Young men were taken to the interrogation center the Russians set up at the train station and beaten One young man – who insists that he learned the coordinates of a Russian position in the city completely by accident through a Telegram group – presumably only escaped death because his mother came and begged for his life on her knees And because a soldier from the Caucasus felt sorry for her Those who were still on the street after 3 p.m A fate that befell a cyclist and a man who was running to the hospital because his wife had gone into premature labor A 60-year-old veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan named Alexander Vilinsky was also shot dead because he refused to be driven out of his home by Russian troops who really was keeping an eye on Russian positions for the Ukrainian army When he didn’t immediately stop on March 12 following warning shots from a machine gun Valentin visiting the grave of his son Sasha His family found Sasha’s body the next day lying next to an electric box on a sidewalk a number of residents were able to evacuate the town following difficult negotiations with the Russians Sasha’s wife and five-year-old child were among those who left Sasha’s father says they are currently somewhere in the Czech Republic and still haven’t learned of Sasha’s death seems to have had a premonition: "Daddy’s not coming back," he said just before leaving Sasha and his wife had promised him that "after the war you’re going to get a sister or a brother," says Valentin spoke Russian with a Ukrainian accent and was actually from not far away He even muttered a curt apology to Valentin who was able to bury his son in the cemetery which had also been forbidden during the Russian occupation Others who were killed were put to rest in the yard behind their homes in makeshift graves without coffins They were simply wrapped in sheets or tarps after being hit by anti-tank weapons or shrapnel from one side or the other Another resident spoke of his 80-year-old mother "I had to lay her out in the garage," he says He says he hammered together a coffin at home and buried his mother in the yard He asks that his name not be used for this article since he works at the chocolate factory and executives in the U.S He says he continued going to the factory for several days after the Russians showed up and spoke with soldiers at the site "They didn’t even know why they were here." The didn’t know anything about how the invasion was going and asked him: "Have we already made it to Kyiv Is Zelenskyy still alive?” referring to the Ukrainian president He says he told them that they weren’t going to like his answer: "Kyiv Zelenskyy is alive!" They cursed and walked off Based on the accents of the Russian troops and the rare times when one of them shared personal information it is possible to guess roughly where they were from Residents say that at least a third appeared to have been militiamen from South Ossetia the small strip of land in Georgia that Russia de facto annexed in 2008 A number of the Russian fighters also came from the Russian-occupied "people’s republics" in eastern Ukraine along with extremely poor soldiers from the southeastern Siberian region of Buryatia but many of them had only signed up four months ago They say none of them had an answer for why they were in Trostyanets and where they were heading next the Ukrainian army began tightening the circle around Trostyanets and moving into the villages in the surrounding forests a Ukrainian drone and artillery attack struck the Russian position at the train station destroying three tanks and a gun emplacement The Russians responded by firing at the surrounding buildings leaving a scene that looks a lot like old photos of Stalingrad from World War II the center of the destroyed square is still dominated by a relatively unscathed World War II monument – a green-painted T34 tank of the kind used by the Soviets It was put there to commemorate the liberation of the city from the Germans in 1943 but the sign has now been torn down and is lying in the burned-out wreck of a Russian tank The monument to the 1943 liberation of Trostyanets from the Germans – a Soviet T-43 tank on 40th Army Square the Russians began shooting at buildings at random for no obvious reason recalls "the tank that came rolling up the street I looked out the window and saw it suddenly pivot its cannon in our direction At us." The shells blew huge holes in the top floor of the hospital though most patients had been moved to the cellar by then Why exactly the remaining Russian troops packed up and left Trostyanets last Friday remains unclear Did they just flee the city due to mounting exhaustion and dwindling supplies of munitions They had already mined the botanical garden and its Nymph Grotto dating from 1809 they left behind graffiti reading "Zelenskyy is a fag," the same phrase sprayed on a number of walls or "For the honor of Russia." Or simply a heart next to the word "Russia." From Russia with Love Trostyanets now looks as though it was descended upon by a horde of teenagers armed with spray cans and tanks A Russian vehicle with the army symbol "V" sprayed on the front the former assistant professor of agriculture watched them leaving on Friday from his living room window He counted the vehicles as they left: "Twelve tanks one multiple rocket launcher and 30 trucks Behind them were 20 cars stolen from civilians with a red 'Z' painted on them many of them with fully packed luggage racks on the roof." It was still a long column of vehicles but nothing compared to the convoy that had arrived during the initial invasion "At the very back was a tank," Vladimir recalls That was when I realized that they really were leaving." Ukraine: Dazed residents emerge from their homes to search for food while Ukrainian soldiers salvage what they can from damaged Russian vehicles abandoned amid the ruins A month under Russian occupation has left deep scars in the northeastern town of Trostyanets which is just 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border on the second day of the war But it encountered fierce resistence from Ukrainian forces when elements tried to push further southwest as the remains of burnt out tanks scattered along a secondary road attest The Russians set up headquarters in Trostyanets' train station and the surrounds are badly damaged after heavy bombardment aimed at dislodging them A dozen destroyed or damaged tanks and other armoured vehicles plus a massive self-propelled howitzer litter the area The nearby bus station and shops where Russian soldiers had bedded down and stored their equipment are in ruins empty wooden ammunition cases are strewn across the ground In the night of the 25th to 26th they just up and left," said Pavlo who spent the past month hunkered down in the basement of his home located just nearby with drones or with I don't know what," he added and there are no bodies of dead Russian soldiers in the streets The only street battles took place in the south of the city near the hospital "It was dangerous to walk by here," Pavlo said of the area around the rail station where the Russians had set up "They arrested people and stole their phones so they could call home," he said Chechens and even pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists from the Donbas region forcing out people and taking their homes" "there was nothing left to eat in the town With a well in his yard and ample provisions in his basement Olga Kolcheniyenko and her husband didn't have it as easy in their third floor apartment without water and electricity "We're still in shock," said the English teacher in her sixties -- her face pale -- making her first foray into the centre of town since it was retaken by Ukrainian soldiers three days ago but getting supplies was a top priority for many people with long lines snaking outside food banks who was standing in line with her mother at a local church handing out food She spent the month shuttling between her apartment and the building's basement "I had to go out every day to help my mother find something to eat The town was brimming with rumours about civilians killed Kolcheniyenko said she heard one of her 13-year-old students had been shot by Russians the wreckage is a gold mine for spare parts One of the deminers took a headlight out of a truck "With two wrecked trucks we can jury-rig one that works," said the head of the local police "We'll be able to make a lot of ammunition for our army." By subscribing, you accept the terms and conditions in our privacy policy. new video loaded: Ukrainian Troops Retake the Town of Trostyanets TROSTYANETS, Ukraine (AP) — The bodies of two Russian soldiers lie abandoned in the woods Ukrainian forces piled atop a tank flash victory signs Dazed people line up amid charred buildings to reach for aid These are the sights in a Ukrainian town that has seized back control from Russian forces Arriving in Trostyanets shortly after Ukrainian forces announced the northeastern town near the Russian border had been retaken following weeks of Russian occupation The Associated Press on Monday saw a civilian landscape that has seen some of the worst of war WATCH: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hits an impasse amid fierce fighting and looming peace talks They rode their bicycles past craters in the road and past the ruins of homes It is not yet clear how many civilians have been killed left behind like the soldiers in the woods One of the soldiers had a red band around his leg The other had an arm flung over his head as if napping on the leaves in the late afternoon light A Ukrainian soldier nudged him with his toe Curious residents peered into an open box of shells It is not clear where the Russian forces went under what circumstances they fled or whether the town will remain free of them in the days ahead President Volodymyr Zelensky in his overnight address emphasized that the situation remains tense in Ukraine’s northeast around Kharkiv But the returned presence of Ukrainian forces in Trostyanets is a relief to a country that hopes some Russian forces defense official said Washington believes the Ukrainians have retaken Trostyanets who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss U.S said Russian forces largely remained in defensive positions near the capital and were making little forward progress elsewhere in the country Late last week, with its forces stalled in parts of the country, Russia seemed to scale back its war aims, saying its main goal was gaining control of the Donbas in the east. after weeks of occupation and intense fighting some residents appeared to have lost all sense of normal READ MORE: Ukraine retakes key Kyiv suburb as battle for Mariupol rages “Personally, I have not seen much,” said one resident, Vitali Butski. And yet three missiles struck his home. Many buildings beyond the railway station are damaged, he said. Bundled up against the freezing wind, he and others ventured out to see what had been left behind. Unexploded ordnance littered the square in front of the train station. Trenches and berms lined the square in a sign that Russian forces tried to defend their position. In a bunker under the station, with thick walls and door, rooms were full of army uniforms and boots. On the walls were patriotic messages including drawings signed by children in Russian reading “Thanks for the peace, soldier.” Another room had been used as a clinic, with unused drips ready and desks turned into beds, although there was no sign of blood. Packets of Russian food rations were seen amid the debris. But residents indicated that the soldiers were still hungry. “In the evenings they came to us, to our houses and our basements, and stole our pickles, potatoes, lard and cucumbers,” said one resident who didn’t give her name. She called the Russians “orcs,” or goblin-like creatures. Militias from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were there as well, she said. The entire town had been occupied. Now, for residents, there is some space to breathe. In line for aid, they waved to passing Ukrainian tanks. “As you can see, there were battles here over the past month. Projectiles were flying over, and people were saying they were frightened,” said Evgeni Kosin with the emergency services. “They were left without food and water. There was a horrible humanitarian situation. Now that there are no flyovers or shelling in the last three days, perhaps it is getting better.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday visited the cities of Okhtyrka and Trostyanets in the Sumy region in the country’s northeast, where he addressed soldiers on the occasion of their defense and liberation, respectively. Zelenskyy first visited Okhtyrka, where he noted that the city experienced heavy losses and strikes from Russian fighter jets and multiple launch rocket systems. “In the Sumy region, in our Okhtyrka, we honor the true Cossack courage and indomitability of our people, our heroes, all Ukrainian men and women. Those who fought here for their city, for their land, and thus for our entire state. Those who destroyed the Russian convoys here and thus disrupted the entire plan of the enemy against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Zelenskyy said. During his speech, he underlined the heroics of locals and voiced his honor in giving Okhtyrka the honorary title of "Hero City." Okhtyrka is one of 10 cities that were given the honorary title of Hero City of Ukraine in March 2022 for their resistance since the start of Russia’s “special military operation” in the country. Zelenskyy further said Ukraine will never forgive the “crimes” committed by Russia on Ukrainian soil. "Justice is the most important thing for us today, so we will not forgive what was done against Ukrainians, against Ukraine. We will bring to justice all murderers from the Russian Federation. ... And we will not leave a single wound inflicted by this war on the body of our state,” he noted. Zelenskyy also said they will rebuild “absolutely everything that was destroyed” and do everything to revive all cities and villages in the region. He later traveled to Trostyanets, where he said the events that transpired in the region are not only reflective of the “pages of the heroic history of communities, but above all about the character of Ukrainians who will win this war.” "Ukrainian character is the character of people who do not accept aggression, who do not give up what’s theirs. This is the character of freedom, which is felt from birth and is not forgotten until the last breath, until the end of life. This is the character of courage that allows you to kill even the enemy that the whole world was afraid of,” he said. He further noted that they continue fighting “for freedom, for the liberation of such cities as Trostyanets, cities of Sumy region, Kyiv region, and Chernihiv region.” "Our people proved that the occupier will be defeated by us, by our morale, by our Ukrainian character. This was proved by our people, our warriors, by those who helped our Armed Forces, our army to direct fire, helped our intelligence to protect our state," he added. “Volodymyr Zelenskyy also got himself acquainted with the reconstruction projects of the Trostyanets railway station and the station square,” a statement by the Ukrainian presidency read. Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. In Focus20 miles from the Russian border, one town struggles to move on from bloody occupation by Putin’s forcesThe residents of Trostyanets in Ukraine’s eastern Sumy region saw their homes and businesses destroyed in the early months of Moscow’s invasion. Askold Krushelnycky visits and sees a ray of hope for recovery thanks to their hard work and international help Nobody believed the Russians would really invade mayor of the small Ukrainian town of Trostyanets just 20 miles from the Russian border – but 24 February 2022 will forever be etched in his mind As Russian tanks trundled across the border in the early hours of the morning, there were no Ukrainian troops in Trostyanets – in Ukraine’s eastern Sumy region – and the residents of the town knew the enemy would arrive within hours Bova says they tried as best they could to slow down the Russian advance Felling trees onto the roads through the rolling hills and forests surrounding Trostyanets brought one column of invading vehicles to a halt for two days “There weren’t just four or five armoured vehicles there was another column with more than 100 vehicles including up to 60 tanks and armoured personnel carriers 20 troop-carrying trucks plus fuel tankers,” Bova says The Russians rumbled into Trostyanets on the first day of the invasion beginning a nightmare for the town’s 21,000 inhabitants I'd heard about the plight of the town a month later on 27 March – when it was freed from Russian occupation 49 of its people were killed and 13 others believed “disappeared” by the occupiers I was in another area of Ukraine – and knew nobody in Trostyanets – but started to dial numbers I could find The first person to answer was on a number for the “Hotel Trostyanets" the community-owned hotel’s manager had just returned to her town I could hear her trying to muffle her sobbing as she told me about how the hotel had been utterly trashed even while absorbing the destruction at the business she and her husband spent years building Tetyana said she felt lucky compared to others whose relatives had been killed or homes had been reduced to piles of charred rubble Such a refusal to surrender to despair is a trait that was to become ever more apparent across Ukraine I finally managed to visit Trostyanets recently more than 15 months into a war Moscow appeared sure would only last weeks Hotel Trostyanets was easy to find on the town’s main street standing intact as part of a row of burned and battered husks of buildings contains onion-domed churches and a fortress enclosed by a stone white-painted wall the Russians positioned heavy artillery inside calculating – correctly – that Ukrainian forces would not target a structure listed as a historic treasure The building was unscathed by Ukrainian shelling but its walls are peppered with bullet holes from machine-gun fire in a bile-filled farewell by the fleeing Russians restaurants and residential buildings that had fringed a large square and park are a scene of total devastation with most of the structures blasted beyond redemption The park is a churned-up mixture of tarmac and soil is a Second World War-era Soviet T-34 tank they commandeered the hotel and kicked Tetyana out She said they immediately set out to inspire terror in the town whose people were often beaten or detained Many men were forced to strip at gunpoint and stand on the street throughout freezing nights Soon they started rounding people up for torture They used the basement at our railway station as a torture chamber where they did whatever they wanted,” Tetyana adds “They understood that we were frightened of them and they behaved even more arrogantly were riding bikes when the Russians shot at them without warning The woman died but the Russians “wouldn’t let her body be moved for burial and she lay there until the Russians left” Tetyana is active in local politics and was head of the local election commission She feared the Russians would eventually come for her and she and her daughter managed to leave in mid-March to western Ukraine Both their husbands had previously left and were in the Ukrainian military Tetyana and her husband started repairing their hotel as soon as the Russians left using their savings – as well as help from the local authorities She gives a wry smile as she shows a photo of the door of room number six where a Russian scrawl indicates a Russian commander had stayed The door will be part of a planned museum about the town’s occupation The situation on the battlefield is now somewhat different Ukraine has been pushing a counteroffensive to take other territory occupied by Russia in the south and east and the border area not far from Trostyanets has become the centre of cross-border incursions by pro-Ukrainian forces The bulk of these have been carried out by Russian partisans seeking to cause trouble for president Vladimir Putin between two and three hours’ drive from Trostyanets into Russian territory But Trostyanets had seen its own version of guerrilla activity during the Russian occupation Bova was born in Trostyanets and was formerly a businessman He was first elected as a councillor when he was 24 and has been the town’s mayor for 18 years British and American intelligence had warned the Ukrainian government that the Russians had prepared detailed lists of people in government businesspeople and others they suspected would help organise resistance and who were marked for arrest or execution Bova says: “I had to decide whether to stay in my office and wait to be arrested and taken away or perhaps killed Weapons were in short supply – we had just four machine guns He and his comrades established contact with the Ukrainian 81st Brigade operating in the area and they asked his people to provide intelligence on what was going on inside Trostyanets “They said that would be much more valuable than any fight we could have put up at that time,” says Bova who became commander of Trostyanets’s territorial volunteer forces Some of the Ukrainian partisans stayed inside the town while Bova and others operated from bases in forests close to Trostyanets gathering detailed information about the Russian forces – including where they ate and slept and where their heavy weapons and armoured vehicles were at any time They also helped guide Ukrainian artillery firing at Russian positions Ukrainian intelligence believes one of the first of the many Russian generals to be killed during this invasion died in Trostyanets Bova speaks to me inside his office at the town’s main administration building which like other public and community buildings in the town had been looted and wrecked by the Russians “The Russians smashed and destroyed everything Three days before they left they fired some 30 tank shells into our main hospital.. They also deliberately destroyed residential buildings Bova suspects the 13 “disappeared” people were among those tortured beneath the railway station Two prisoners were found alive in the basements as the Russians fled They told of victims who bled to death after their fingers were cut off Anguish flickers across Bova’s face as he recalls how the first thing the torturers demanded while beating their captives was his whereabouts Bova says he has worked tirelessly to rebuild Trostyanets water and heating systems were destroyed or ripped out buses and any movable equipment was stolen He said the Russians took even basic toolkits and wrecked what they could not take He says all the tasks had to be performed in parallel – a huge logistical puzzle – and Bova reached out to and has been contacted by 130 organisations and groups around the world eager to help rebuild Trostyanets many turning up unannounced to donate funds or supplies or roll up their sleeves to assist clothing and medicines to hospital apparatus emergency vehicles and buses needed to be replaced “to return some semblance of normality” “Today there are no homeless people in Trostyanets living under a tree,” he says “Everyone has some roof over their heads.” Bova has a vision to rebuild Trostyanets using innovative designs from around the globe – taking into consideration factors such as the needs of elderly or disabled people and employing energy-efficient and green technologies kind to the environment “We know that we can’t invent everything ourselves when searching for new concepts,” he says Ukrainians need to forge partnerships with groups and individuals around the world to learn their approaches on incorporating culture education parks and recreation into town planning where among other projects he is seeking to adapt for Trostyanets “a new philosophy of park design” being developed by the city of Chattanooga in Tennessee And last month he was in London for “The Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023” which aimed to ensure Ukraine can come back stronger from the devastation it has faced Bova believes rebuilding Ukraine must begin even before the fighting is over “We’ve mastered swiftly the technology of the new [Western] weapons we’ve been given This is a people who didn’t break despite the horrors inflicted by the Russians and our nation is capable of swiftly mastering the technologies and ideas to rebuild our country.” He says so many people have died to ensure Ukraine survives and that it is “a duty to make every one of those sacrifices count – by building a new future they would be proud of and not recreating the past” More aboutUkraineRussiaJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies govt and politics","score":0.78132},{"label":"/law one town struggles to move on from bloody occupation by Putin’s forces","description":"The residents of Trostyanets in Ukraine’s eastern Sumy region saw their homes and businesses destroyed in the early months of Moscow’s invasion Askold Krushelnycky visits and sees a ray of hope for recovery thanks to their hard work and international help Ukrainian forces discovered the documents while searching through the northeastern town of Trostyanets in Sumy Oblast Trostyanets, located about 230 miles from the capital, Kyiv, was liberated by Ukrainian troops in late March after a monthlong Russian occupation, The New York Times reported.  Investigators found "important documents of soldiers of the Russian Federation's Armed Forces that give a clear understanding that Russia was preparing to seize all the territory of Ukraine," Oleksiy Sukhachev the director of Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation "All this information will be studied," the statement continued Insider has not seen the documents and has not been able to independently verify the claims Sukhachev said Ukrainian officials had inspected over 2,000 hectares of the destroyed town since its liberation.  soldiers also found that more than 300 residential buildings had been permanently damaged A number of unexploded shells and bombs had also been found The Russian military papers appeared to confirm earlier assessments by Western officials that Putin had plans to swiftly take all of Ukraine the Guardian found evidence of summary executions a sleepy town 20 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border occupying a number of buildings: the forestry agency headquarters the railway station and a chocolate factory Their top general set up his office in room 23 at the local administration building where the council’s accountants used to sit His bottle of single malt is still on the desk the butts of his slim cigarettes perched on the edge of an ashtray He slept on a single bed stolen from a nearby hotel judging by the bloodied Russian uniforms littering the floor A car with the letter Z a symbol of support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine occupied by the Russian army and heavily damaged by the Ukrainian army when it recently retook the town Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianThirty days after they arrived the Russians left Trostianets in a convoy of tanks trucks full of loot and numerous stolen vehicles they had daubed with Z signs The carnage they left behind will be remembered by the residents of this quaint historical spa town of 20,000 residents for the rest of their lives and is yet another indictment of the results of Russia’s unwanted “liberation” mission in Ukraine Hundreds of green ammunition boxes and casings remain evidence of the shells and Grad missiles the Russians fired from Trostianets into neighbouring towns Surviving buildings have been daubed with pro-Russian slogans and crude insults about the Ukrainian president torture and systematic looting during the month of occupation but it will a take a long time to catalogue all the crimes the Russians committed in places like Trostianets A resident of Trostianets pushes her bicycle past destroyed Russian military equipment Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianFor now the long and difficult clean-up is under way Ukrainian sappers have removed mines and tripwires from the cemetery the train station and even the chocolate museum housed in an elegant villa where the composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky once stayed Electricity returned for the first time in weeks on Sunday The first passenger train since the invasion arrived at the wrecked station on Monday But the streets are still littered with the twisted remains of Russian armoured vehicles and there is nothing to buy because everything has been looted residents wheeled bicycles to the points across town where parcels of food aid were available: cartons of eggs jars of pickled cucumbers and plastic bags bulging with potatoes sent by volunteer groups in other parts of Ukraine In the orderly but irritable queue to receive them people embraced acquaintances who they were happy to see still alive and swapped horror stories from the past month Trostianets residents queue to receive food aid Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianSpotting a journalist even my underwear.” “They killed a guy on my street.” “The fuckers stole my laptop and my aftershave.” A symphony of stories people had mostly good things to say about Russia which is just a short drive away and where many people have friends and family Now they competed to heap insults on the neighbours that had brought misery upon them The mayor of Trostianets in his office in the town administrative building Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianYuriy Bova said it was too early to give a reliable estimate of how many civilians the Russians had killed a pistol tucked into the front of his body armour The idea of a Russian invasion had seemed fanciful to him as the crescendo of US intelligence warnings continued he called a meeting of those who would like to join a territorial defence force There are no military installations in Trostianets a couple of pistols and a few policemen with Kalashnikovs a huge column of Russian armour was already on the outskirts of the town Bova sent a group of foresters to cut down trees along the entrance road and in mid-morning he called another meeting of the territorial defence unit “Trying to fight against tanks with a few rifles would have meant certain death so I took the decision that we would become partisans,” said Bova People had a few minutes to decide whether they would stay or go Destroyed Russian military equipment in Trostianets. Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianMembers of the territorial defence unit survey destroyed Russian equipment in Bilka Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianWhen Ukrainian forces blew up a bridge to the south of Trostianets and the town became a hub of Russian servicemen and armour Local residents retreated to their basements and waited to see what would happen Some of the first interactions with the occupiers were relatively painless they stank and they looked completely lost,” said Yana Lugovets who spent a month sleeping in the basement with her husband She said a soldier who had come to search the house where they were staying left without completing the task his eyes filled with shame as her daughter cried out in fear at the intruder who ran a beauty salon near the train station said when she went to check on it and found seven Russian soldiers had broken in and were sleeping there Daria Sasina in her beauty salon in Trostianets Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The Guardian“I started crying Many people recalled similar polite exchanges or flickers of shame in the eyes of the intruders but any interaction with the occupiers involved enduring a game of Russian roulette her husband and father went on a risky mission across town to deliver bread to a 96-year-old great aunt a group of Russian soldiers sprang onto the street behind them and pointed their weapons at them bitches!” We ran through the mud as fast as we could our legs were freezing and soaked and we were terrified When Sasina went back to check on her small salon the day after the Russians had left she found they had stolen thousands of dollars worth of expensive hair dyes several lightbulbs and the art on the walls An air conditioning unit was left dangling down from the wall its cables having proved stronger than the desire to steal it Electricians work to restore power to Trostianets Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianIn return the Russians had left clumps of their own shaved hair on the floor and piles of faeces in the neighbouring grocery shop the wives and girlfriends of soldiers will presumably soon receive gifts of high-end beauty products she does not know how she will afford to rebuild her salon “Everything I worked to build has been destroyed,” she said The mayor has been criticised by some for his decision to flee but Bova insists it was the only sensible option Flicking through photographs on his phone from the occupation days he showed how people had sent him information about Russian deployments including from one brave local who managed to fly a drone over their positions Police officers observe heavily damaged buildings in Trostianets Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianAs the Ukrainian army called in strikes on the Russian positions An expletive-laden audio recording released by the Ukrainian security services purportedly shows a Russian general ordering a missile strike on civilian targets after receiving incoming fire from a nearby village “Wipe the whole place from the Earth from the eastern side to the west,” he says the Russians cut mobile reception in the town demanding to examine people’s telephones for compromising information A handwritten note found amid the mess of the soldiers’ quarters in the train station lists the names of possible enemies to hunt down Members of the territorial defence visit the grave of Alexander Kulybaba a pig farmer killed by Russian soldiers in Bilka village Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianIn Bilka where the Russians based more than 200 vehicles a pig farmer who protested against the takeover of his barn the day the Russians arrived in the village a kindly electrician with a handlebar moustache went out on the first morning to find somewhere to charge his and his wife’s mobile phones because the electricity was already down “I’m just popping out for five minutes,” he told her Ludmyla Savchenko whose husband Mykola was killed by Russian soldiers Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianLudmyla stood outside her home weeping on Monday holding a stamped death report from the police that explained in neat handwriting that her husband had been “brutally tortured and then killed with a shot to the heart and one to the head” An inspection found broken bones in his fingers and arms because they are small and they still don’t understand everything Every day they waited for their dad to come home Ludmyla insisted her husband had not been active in the resistance to the Russians a farmer explained how he hid his smartphone in the dirt inside the pig enclosure and carried round an old brick phone as a decoy to show to Russian soldiers if asked scurry to the one spot where he knew there was still reception and send the new locations of Russian hardware to a relative in the Ukrainian army “Then they sent in the Bayraktars and fucked them up,” he said with a cackle referring to the Turkish-made drones that Ukraine has used with deadly effect against Russian columns Members of the territorial defence unit survey Russian positions at Alexander Kulybaba’s pig farm Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianThe boiling fury felt towards the Russians in villages such as Bilka where people speak a mishmash of Ukrainian and Russian and previously felt far removed from geopolitical concerns will be a lasting consequence of Vladimir Putin’s grim decision to invade there is confusion and disappointment about the attitudes of ordinary Russians cowered in the hospital’s basement together with her patients as a Russian tank took potshots at the building Her nearby apartment block has also been reduced to a skeleton with all the windows blown out and serious structural damage Nadezhda Bakran Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianBut when she called her best friend in Moscow with whom she has been on holiday almost every year since they met in Crimea 43 years ago she heard only sceptical derision and accusations I said: ‘Your people are destroying my town’ She said: ‘You caused this war yourself’… We were friends what we had was even closer than just friendship this sense of betrayal from their friends and family has hit almost as hard as the material losses listed the losses her family had taken from a month of Russian occupation: her house was destroyed Her brother now walks on crutches after his car was shot at on the first day at a checkpoint and a bullet lodged in his lower back Russian soldiers even shot her grandmother’s cat during a house inspection who lives outside Moscow and had visited her in Trostianets most summers her aunt told her she was talking nonsense she said probably the soldiers are Ukrainians dressed up as Russians She has stopped speaking to me now,” Sasina said The town administrative building in Trostianets Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianThe Russian soldiers who made it out of Trostianets alive may never speak about the anger they witnessed and the carnage they caused as they return to a country where their operation in Ukraine has been referred to by state propaganda as a heroic mission to save their neighbour from the clutches of radicals and neo-Nazis Russian television viewers may never see the ugly truth of the cost of their army’s unwanted intervention although many Russian families will now be mourning lost sons and brothers The yellowed bodies of three Russian soldiers lie unclaimed and unrefrigerated in the Trostianets hospital morgue A Ukrainian soldier involved in retaking the town estimated that up to 300 may have died here weak torchlight reveals an improvised field hospital where the Russians treated their wounded Silver padding had been placed over two desks to create makeshift operating tables The floor was littered with tablets and other medical supplies A hand written card taped to the wall in the basement of Trostianets train station which was used as a military position by Russian soldiers Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianOn the wall in the corridor outside was perhaps the most jarring sight in all Trostianets Children’s drawings brought from Russia were taped to the wall gifts from schoolchildren in honour of Army Day colourful flowers and messages of support written in spidery youthful handwriting and came with drawings in crayon and a printed message for making sure I live under a peaceful sky.” During weeks of Russian occupation the Ukrainian town of Trostyanets was systematically destroyed – its buildings pulverised Their harrowing testimony suggests more evidence of war crimes by Russian forces from deliberately killing civilians to indiscriminate shelling and looting Warning: This report contains distressing images Peace talks to resume on Friday … biggest maternity scandal in the history of the NHS … and photographing the most distant star ever seen Top story: Putin advisers ‘afraid to tell him truth’Hello it’s Warren Murray wishing you good morning once again “And even though we believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth what’s going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.” Russian troops were poorly equipped suffering from low morale and refusing to carry out orders said the numbers themselves did “not tell the whole story” of the impact on families issued a Commons apology for the failings: “We entrust the NHS with our care In return we expect the highest standards.” Louise Barnett the chief executive at the Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS trust said: “We offer our wholehearted apologies for the pain and distress caused by our failings as a trust.” One rule for them – Keir Starmer is headed to Bury to launch Labour’s five-week-long local elections battle with the slogan “On your side” urging voters to send the Conservatives a message about the cost of living crisis and No 10 lockdown breaches Labour sources said the slogan was intended to evoke the feeling of “one rule for them” that the public expressed during exposés of lockdown breaches The party launches its campaign with analysis claiming families will be £2,620 worse off even after Rishi Sunak cut fuel duty and raised the national insurance threshold Other campaigns will be launched in Worthing and Derby Labour will pledge to reform employment law to outlaw a repeat of the P&O sackings and promise tougher action on crime with police hubs in every neighbourhood ‘Lock down extreme porn’ – An “immediate and urgent” introduction of age checks is needed to stop children accessing extreme content on pornography websites In an open letter to the largest porn sites in the UK the coalition led by Barnardo’s said this could not wait to be addressed as part of the online safety bill Barnardo’s says its frontline workers have had to help children including a 15-year-old boy exposed to pornography during lockdown He was arrested after exposing himself to an older woman and said he had been watching that kind of content online A new YouGov poll shows that almost 70% of UK adults agree that extreme pornography that would be illegal to sell on a DVD should also be illegal online Among parents and guardians the figure was 75% The report found heat pumps and solar water heaters produced no air pollution at homes using them Air pollution is the single biggest environmental risk to health causing millions of early deaths a year globally The UK government’s proposed new air quality limits for 2040 would still allow twice as much dangerous PM2.5 particle pollution in England as the WHO recommends as an upper limit today Faraway star – The most distant star ever seen, 12.9bn light years away, has been photographed by the Hubble space telescope in images that might never be possible again. The observation of the star, named Earendel (“morning star” in old English) was possible thanks to a rare cosmic alignment Scientists estimate Earendel is at least 50 times the mass of the Sun and millions of times as bright placing it among the most massive stars known Earendel in a Hubble picture Photograph: Nasa/ESA/JHUIt showed up in pictures because of natural magnification by a huge galaxy cluster The cluster’s gravitational pull is so intense that light bends around it scientists calculate that Earendel’s brightness was magnified by a factor of thousands On Tuesday, Russia announced it would “radically reduce” its military activity in northern Ukraine, but the Ukrainian military warns that Russia’s statement is intended to mislead them. Emma Graham-Harrison reports from Kharkiv Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen $https://audio.guim.co.uk/2022/03/30-78885-20220330tifkharkivstrategy.mp3 00:00:0000:28:37Lunchtime read: Made in south LondonFrom the playing fields of Lewisham and Bromley to the Premier League, its football clubs have nurtured wave after wave of stars. And these players have become proud symbols of a place reshaped by each new generation of migrants reflecting the growing popularity of the sport in the US with two races already set to be hosted this year in Miami and Austin with little having changed and pressure to succeed at Test level still leading to bad decision-making while gas prices rose to all-time highs in the UK and other European markets this month The FTSE100 is set for a modest rise this morning The Financial Times has “Germany and Austria prepare gas rationing in stand-off with Russia” The Sun leads with “Masked raider in Becks mansion” after the Beckhams were burgled Others cover the NHS maternity scandal from various perspectives “Childbirth ‘is not safe for women in England’” says the Times “Biggest maternity scandal in history of the NHS” – the i uses an oft-repeated line about the Shrewsbury and Telford inquiry “Natural birth dogma left mothers and babies to die” is the Daily Mail headline The Guardian Morning Briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes bright and early every weekday. If you are not already receiving it by email, you can sign up here For more news: www.theguardian.com If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com Sign up to Inside Saturday to get an exclusive behind the scenes look at the top features from our new magazine delivered to your inbox every weekend Heavy damage welcomed residents returning to Trostyanets in Sumy Oblast following its recapture by Ukrainian forces Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Ukrainian forces have retaken control of Trotsyanest in the eastern region of Sumy streets and buildings in the besieged northeastern city of Kharkiv have been left devastated by Russian attacks 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 The fighting in Ukraine looks increasingly like a stalemate on the ground with the two sides trading control of a town in the east Ukrainian forces retook control of Trotsyanest on Monday as another round of talks aimed at stopping the war is scheduled for Tuesday were either abandoned behind by the retreating forces or destroyed in the besieged northeastern city of Kharkiv Russian attacks left buildings and streets destructed Головна Сторінка » English stories » Russian Tanker Ordered to Shell Maternity Ward of Hospital in Sumy Region — Identification who ordered the firing on a hospital in Trostyanets A Ukrainian court sentenced Zhuravlev to 11 years in prison in absentia and Slidstvo.Info journalists identified the occupier On 14 February, the Trostyanets District Court of Sumy Region sentenced Anatoly Zhuravlev a tank commander of the 6th Tank Company of the 12th Guards Tank Regiment “Shepetivsky” of the 4th Guards Tank Division of Kantemyrivsk for violating the laws and customs of war during the occupation of Sumy Region Zhuravlev ordered the gunner-operator to fire twice from a T-80U tank at the building of the hospital’s inpatient unit only civilians were inside the building — patients and staff of the medical facility The Russians hit the maternity ward on the second floor the parapet part of the inpatient building and the wall were damaged law enforcement officers conducted an inspection in an abandoned tank they found a leather wallet containing Zhuravlev’s military ID patches for Russian military uniforms and other documents Zhuravlev was called up for service in 2018 and since 25 August 2020 he has held the position of tank commander the hospital no longer had fuel for generators and food supplies so patients and women in labour began to be evacuated There were 8 seriously ill patients left on the 3rd and 5th floors The hospital staff began to bring them down to the basement and saw a tank 300 metres away through the window a hospital worker was passing a Russian checkpoint and saw the same tank and remembered Zhuravlev’s face Another Ukrainian saw a T-80-like tank near the hospital The occupiers moved into a three-storey building and the residents were forced to move to the basement a resident of this house identified Zhuravlev from a photo the Russians visited people in the basement Employees of the medical facility also said that before the shelling gathered the staff in the lobby and told them to wear white bandages on their left arm and right leg white flags with a red cross had been installed on the inpatient building near the reception area and at the entrance to the hospital which the Russian military could not help but see and the name of the hospital was written in large letters on the facade of the building Hospital in Trostianets / Photo: SECURITY SERVICE OF UKRAINE It should have been obvious to the military that the building he ordered to fire at was a civilian object — a hospital an attack on which is prohibited under international humanitarian law Slidstvo.Info journalists found the occupier’s page on the Russian social network VKontakte 24-year-old Anatoly Zhuravlev is a native of Valuiki (Belgorod oblast) Zhuravlev is not very active on his personal pages on Russian social media the occupier distributed several photographs showing an eye injury that he could have received in the war in Ukraine but Zhuravlev hung up and blocked the journalists’ contacts in messengers when he heard about his sentence Anatoly Zhuravlev faces 11 years in prison (part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) Earlier, the Trostyanets District Court sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison Pyotr Smirnov a tank commander of the 5th Tank Company of the 2nd Tank Battalion of the Chertkovsky Guards Tank Regiment of the 2nd Taman Guards Motorised Rifle Division who carried out the criminal order of the commander and fired a shot from a T-80U tank at the building of the same hospital on 18 March 2022 READ ALSO: Caught Between Aid and Trade: Volunteer Feeding Ukrainians in Need Keeps Doing Business, Paying Taxes in Russia Slidstvo.Info agency traced the path of the 27-year-old Viktoria, uncovering the conditions of her detention in ... Slidstvo.Info journalists talked to Inha, who for the first time shared her experience of imprisonment and what is ... The Command of the Ground Forces told Slidstvo.Info that Oscar was captured in Luhansk Oblast and has been ... 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, a SQL command or malformed data. 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. where the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky once stayed—are damaged from artillery fire Cultural sites in Ukraine connected to the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky have been damaged by Russian forces The palace at the Koenig Estate in 2018 after restoration Photo: Demmarcos The statue of Tchaikovsky in Trostianets Photo: Venzz torture and summary executions of residents Many local groups and residents posted on Facebook with memories of the estate and photos and videos of the damage Several expressed shock and anger that Russian troops would target a site devoted to Tchaikovsky One woman said it is time to break with the past reverence for Russian culture and any connection of Russian cultural figures with their region and move on, which she illustrated with a photo of a ballerina leaping over ruins labelled “Russian culture.” “After the war Tchaikovsky will be mentioned less and less often,” she wrote “All of this being transfixed before Chekhov and Tchaikovsky in the Sumy region must come to an end,” she said referring to the name of the province news24 July 2023Russian attacks on Odesa damage Orthodox cathedral The bombing of several buildings including in the historic city centre—a World Heritage Site—has been strongly condemned by Unesco news15 March 2022Museum building heavily damaged in Ukraine's battle-ravaged city of ChernihivDirector has been posting emotional updates on Facebook as Russian forces shell area news10 June 2022Is Ukraine's cultural heritage under coordinated attack?Sites are suffering widespread destruction but a coalition of organisations is working to provide evidence of deliberate targeting by Russian forces news15 July 2022Ukrainian churches and places of worship devastated by warAs Russia's war continues conservation is proving impossible—but heritage groups priests and volunteers are doing their best to document the destruction A railway station basement and a schoolroom still show telltale signs of their transformation into places of torture for those who know where to look By Anthony Galloway and Kate Geraghty Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time As Olekdsndr Fayizov shines his torch down the stairs leading to the basement of a railway station These are the marks made when Russian interrogators bashed prisoners’ heads against the concrete and he proceeds to demonstrate how it was done shows where Russian soldiers beat prisoners’ heads against the wall in the basement of the Trostyanets railway station.Credit: Kate Geraghty This is the anatomy of the torture cell: in the centre of a tiny leading to the spaces where the Russian soldiers slept one of hundreds being examined by investigators across Ukraine Torture is a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Given Russian soldiers appear to have deployed it wherever they went in Ukraine stacking up each case is now a monumental task for Ukrainian investigators and international organisations looking into war crimes Ukrainian authorities have also been accused of torturing some of their prisoners since the Russian invasion The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age is revealing new details of apparent war crimes committed in Ukraine – including torture unlawful killings and abductions – based on first-hand accounts of victims and witnesses It all started for Fayizov on the second day of the invasion as the 41-year-old technician hid in bushes and reported to the Ukrainians the movement of Russian tanks rolling through his city of Trostyanets about 40 kilometres from the Russian border the Russians returned and captured the city only venturing out to stock up on supplies five masked Russian soldiers arrived at his house took his phone and passport and held him at gunpoint in front of his mother they told him: “We will take you to a secret place.” It was only two minutes from his home; Fayizov knew it was the local factory questioning him over the whereabouts of the Ukrainian military and then beating him again Then he was brought to that cell below the railway station Fayizov still regards his captors as incompetent – rookie soldiers in way above their heads He says they even asked if he had helped the Ukrainian military I had my second phone and passport in my inside pocket all the time I was there.” The soldiers were brutal if prisoners pushed back Just ask Valentin Barannyk what happened when he tried to escape a beating Valentin Barannyk shows where he was shot by soldiers who occupied Trostyanets.Credit: Kate Geraghty “I had my ass shot through,” Barannyk says before pulling down his pants to show us the hole in his right buttock There’s even a bullet hole in the collar of my jacket.” After a man named Mykola dared to express disappointment with the prisoners’ treatment Russian special forces kicked him to death but he says Russian soldiers yelled back: “We don’t care His account differs dramatically to that of a Russian soldier who was on guard at the train station who recently told a social media channel no one was killed “There was one drunk who died because of his alcohol fever Nobody touched him,” says the Russian soldier “They threw him in there and he kept hitting his head on the wall.” there were five prisoners left in the room Fayizov says all of a sudden there was silence he worked his hands and legs free of their bonds and broke open the cage in which the prisoners were held In the space where the Russian soldiers had been sleeping he found piles of garbage The scene of squalor suggests a chaotic unit of soldiers drinking heavily who lashed out in rage and beat their prisoners without even a detailed plan of what to do with them It also fed this survivor’s contempt for his captors A destroyed Soviet tank monument in the street near the Trostyanets railyway station.Credit: Kate Geraghty “How can a human being shit beside the place where he sleeps The Russians had left in a hurry that morning so Fayizov walked past the bombed-out ruins of the town to his home All that was left intact when the Ukrainians arrived the next day was an abandoned Russian tank A similar story of chaos and filth can be found some 385 kilometres away in the village of Yahidne practically the whole town of 371 people were confined in a dark basement of the local school mostly the elderly who suffocated in the airless crush On the back of a door in the basement of Yahidne school is a calendar of the 25 days nearly 400 residents of the town were kept by Russian soldiers On the left is a list of names and dates of seven people shot by Russian soldiers On the right the 10 people who died due to conditions in the basement was among those who spent 27 days in the “death basement” Her neighbour was the first to die of suffocation where the entire village were locked in a school basement by Russian soldiers.Credit: Kate Geraghty “They wouldn’t let us bury the dead,” she says They started talking funny and hallucinating.” says if the Russian soldiers wanted to interrogate or execute someone Residents of Yahidne inside the basement of a school Nadiya is the seated woman in the red jumper.Credit: Reuters/OLHA MENIAYLO Ivan paints a scene of debauchery and disarray come down with a flashlight and give a child a grenade to play with,” he says sits in the chair where he and his family sat while being held in the basement of a school for 25 days.Credit: Kate Geraghty In the kindergarten and school where the soldiers slept remnants of their disorderly occupation and hurried withdrawal are laid bare empty bottles of vodka and cigarette butts are scattered throughout the rooms Smudges of human excrement lie just metres from their sleeping quarters Ivan says the village will never reopen the school in that building But it can’t go back to being a school and kindergarten.” Read part one of this series here. Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here These are the marks made when Russian interrogators bashed prisoners\\u2019 heads against the concrete The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age is revealing new details of apparent war crimes committed in Ukraine \\u2013 including torture unlawful killings and abductions \\u2013 based on first-hand accounts of victims and witnesses they told him: \\u201CWe will take you to a secret place.\\u201D Fayizov still regards his captors as incompetent \\u2013 rookie soldiers in way above their heads \\u201CThey were dumb as f---,\\u201D Fayizov says I had my second phone and passport in my inside pocket all the time I was there.\\u201D \\u201CI had my ass shot through,\\u201D Barannyk says There\\u2019s even a bullet hole in the collar of my jacket.\\u201D After a man named Mykola dared to express disappointment with the prisoners\\u2019 treatment but he says Russian soldiers yelled back: \\u201CWe don\\u2019t care \\u201CThere was one drunk who died because of his alcohol fever Nobody touched him,\\u201D says the Russian soldier \\u201CThey threw him in there and he kept hitting his head on the wall.\\u201D It also fed this survivor\\u2019s contempt for his captors \\u201CHow can a human being shit beside the place where he sleeps was among those who spent 27 days in the \\u201Cdeath basement\\u201D \\u201CThey wouldn\\u2019t let us bury the dead,\\u201D she says They started talking funny and hallucinating.\\u201D come down with a flashlight and give a child a grenade to play with,\\u201D he says But it can\\u2019t go back to being a school and kindergarten.\\u201D Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\\u2019s making headlines around the world 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 Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation continue thoroughly document the facts of violations of the russian military at Trostyanets This statement was announced by the Director of the State Bureau of Investigation and none of the perpetrators will escape fair punishment which was established within the structure of the Main Investigation Department at the beginning of the russian aggression Investigators of the Bureau examined more than 2,000 hectares of the city destroyed by the invaders The locations of the aggressor's combat units and the firing positions from which the shelling was carried out have been established Documents and personal belongings of the russian military were seized Investigating the consequences of artillery and mortar shelling of the infrastructure of the city by russian federation the SBI investigators identified deliberately damaged 322 residential buildings and civilian objects in Trostyanets "SBI investigators collected important documents of the russian military which clearly give the understanding that russia was preparing to seize the entire territory of Ukraine All this information will be examined and attached to the case file places where the occupiers tortured civilians At least 34 cases of illegal deprivation of liberty and torture of civilians have been documented metal ticks and clothes of the victims with bloodstains were found at the crime scene employees of the SBI neutralized several explosive devices and handed over unused weapons and ammunition to the Armed Forces of Ukraine investigators consider it appropriate to combine several looting proceedings into separate case we have involved the best investigators of the central office and employees of the Regional Department of the SBI located in Poltava and Kramatorsk," added Oleksii Sukhachov Report corruption in the DBR Submit an appeal The SBI employees notified two service members of the 1st Tank Regiment of the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motorized Rifle Division of suspicion were firing point-blank at the building of the Trostyanets district hospital the invaders encircled the local hospital with several tanks and opened fire at a medical facility The SBI established that the commander of the T-72 tank gave the command to fire with a 125-mm cannon He and his assistant gunner Aynur Mukhametzhanov was notified of suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) The article provides for deprivation of liberty for up to 12 years The investigation is ongoing; the other tank crew will be notified of suspicion shortly All occupiers will be identified and severely punished The Sumy Regional Prosecutor's Office provides procedural guidance