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At the beginning of March 2022, Moshchun was fully surrounded by Russian forces. Enemy artillery began to destroy local homes.

Nadiia Korcheva is from the village of Zalissia. The Russians smashed everything around, robbed homes, mined vegetable gardens and shot civilians from tanks.

Liudmyla Shevchenko lives in Moshchun. The house they struggled to build, in which three generations of the family lived, burned down before her eyes. All they managed to save were documents.

Kharkiv local government estimates that around 70% of buildings in Northern Saltivka, one of the city’s residential neighbourhoods, have been destroyed as a result of Russia’s indiscriminate shelling, mostly during the first 6 months of the invasion of Ukraine.

After the occupation of the village Velyka Dymerka, the Russians drove a tank into Olha Lasa’s garden and hid in the cellar, kicking her, the owner, out into the street. A large hospitable house, where children and grandchildren visited, burned down.

In the evening of 06/05/2023 Russia once again attacked Kharkiv with missiles. One of them hit the central Rymarska Street. According to the mayor Ihor Terekhov, no one was injured.

After the liberation of Izium by Ukrainian forces, the spine-chilling aftermath of the Russian occupation was discovered in the local forest.

Nina Kasiian lived in the village of Velyka Dymerka, in Kyiv Region. She left with her whole family when the village came under Russian occupation. The Russian military set up an observation point in her house. When they retreated, they stole everything that could be stolen.

Mykhailo Tepliuk from Bohdanivka was returning after visiting a neighbor when a Russian sitting on a tank started shooting at him. The first two bullets pierced his knee, the third bullet ripped off his hat and pierced his temple.

Maryna Belkova lived in Bohdanivka, Kyiv region. To evacuate her family, she had to ask permission from the Russian military. Her son covered the car with white ribbons, and Marina walked ahead with a white scarf in her hands.

‘It is often spooky,’ says Alena Hrybanova describing her experience working with the people traumatized during the war in Ukraine.

Zinayida Kostenko lives in Moshchun, a village near Kyiv. From the very first days of the war, Russian artillery shelled the village. Preliminary estimates say 75% of Moshchun’s houses were completely destroyed.

Halyna Khoroshchak was the victim of fierce bombing by Russian aircraft. They destroyed her apartment, and many of her friends were killed, injured, or went missing.

The war caught Mykola Kostenko near Kyiv in his native village, Moshchun. On the first day of war, he says, he counted up to 15 enemy helicopters over his house. Soon, they began to wipe his village off the face of the earth.

Victoria Andrusha is a teacher of mathematics and computer science. On March 25, 2022, she was abducted from her home in Stary Bykiv, Chernihiv Region.

Iryna Oliinyk’s apartment in Borodianka (Kyiv Region) was totally destroyed by Russian bombs; her husband and son were both seriously injured.

Volodymyr Zaika lives in Moshchun (Kyiv Region). He witnessed terrible battles near Kyiv and describes how the Russians deliberately destroyed his village.

Svitlana lives in Moshchun, a village in the Kyiv Region. Moshchun was occupied by Russian troops during the very first days of the war. That wasn’t the worst, however: the village was practically wiped out by enemy artillery.

LIke in other cities under Russian occupation, extrajudicial prisons were used in Kherson to torture locals suspected of loyalty to Ukraine.

Russians tortured Ukrainian civilians and servicemen and held them captive under poor conditions. According to some reports, even minors were detained in underground bunkers.

Yuriy Pladko recalls how his village was shelled in the spring. After the Russians were pushed back from Kyiv, residents of nearby villages began finding bodies. “When people were leaving, they didn’t see it. But when they were returning, that’s when they could see everything,” says Pladko, who’s own grandson was killed.

Kateryna lived in Saltivka, a large residential area of Kharkiv. From the first day of the war until the liberation of Kharkiv Region, it was subject to regular shelling, especially in the north.

“The mines were exploding right next to me,” says Hanna Nuflik, who lived in a basement for more than a month while the “ground shook” in her city from the shelling. “I want peace, to live on my land, and I don’t want anything else!” — Hanna appeals to the Russians.

We spoke with Oleksiy, a charismatic sports host from Mariupol, in May. After that interview with Oleksiy, where he described how he helped everyone from his bomb shelter to escape, his story appeared in several publications worldwide.