Manhunters Haven

| This article is written primarily for my English-speaking friends, and secondly for all other readers. |  

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A number of readers of Ukrainian news may want to know: what really happened in the village of Yagodnoye, Chernihiv region, at the initial stage of the invasion of the Russian army? Are the Russian Armed Forces so wild and violent as Ukrainian newsmakers say? Based on their articles from the hotline and some of the places that were brought back to the world, it looks like Russian soldiers abused civilians in Ukraine like the SS service of the German under Nazi Party, what happened in time of World War II. Here are some quotes from the first interview of eyewitnesses, who had described the events during the Russian 2022 year occupation of the village of Yagodnoye.  

The testimony of the atrocities of the Russian occupiers, placed below, was recorded in April 2022 from the words of one of the inhabitants of this village, who lived there before the start of Russian aggression and personally went through all the horrific torments he described during the period of temporary Russian occupation.  

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[ First days. The war has begun. ]  

24 лютого ми спали. Крізь сон почули вибухи. Одразу подумали, що щось гримить – не зважали. Телефонувала кума о 6 ранку, каже "війна почалась", в неї родичі з Ріпкинського району, кажуть, вороги кордон вже перейшли.  

Почали збиратися на роботу, увімкнули телевізор, а тут теж кажуть, що війна. І мені, і чоловікові на роботі сказали, що можемо не приїжджати на роботу. Ми залишились вдома. Вибухи все наближались і наближались.  

Наступного дня вибухи були ще ближчими. Син разом із дружиною приїхали з Чернігова – рятувалися від війни.  

Вибухи ми спочатку пересиджували в хаті. У нас двоє котів, то ми орієнтувались по них: якщо коти спокійно поводяться – нам нема за що переживати. Навколо села стояли наші війська, ми знали, що це стріляють наші. Коли ж коти почали ховатися – ми розуміли, що стріляють по нас. Тоді вже ми ховалися: поруч із нашим домом (ми живемо у двоповерховому восьмиквартирному будинку) є старий садочок, у якому міцний погріб. Ми там разом із сусідами облаштували собі бомбосховище: провели туди світло, принесли обігрівач, старих ковдр нанесли. Не страшні нам були бомбардування, бо той погріб був добре укріплений.  

Так ми дожили до 2 березня. 3 березня прилетів снаряд у наш будинок. Збив ріг будівлі, дах порушився. На щастя, у кімнаті, в яку влучило, не було нікого – ніхто не постраждав. Але ми точно знали, що прилетіло з боку росіян.  

3-5 березня ми майже не виходили з погреба – були сильні бої. Тільки сиділи і молилися. Їсти ходили варити по черзі і дуже швидко, аби не піддавати всіх ризику. Підтримували одне одного у тому погребі, жартували. Сподівались, що таким чином і пересидимо, допоки наші їх не відіб'ють. Підтримували зв'язок із нашими солдатами. Допоки можливо було – варили їм їсти, передавали їм.  

Ніхто не голодував, хоча закупити продукти в магазині вже було неможливо. Тричі була доставка хлібу – по дві буханки на сім'ю, то ми те, що не з'їдали, клали в холодильник "до гірших часів". Фермерське господарство роздавало молоко – про 3-літровій банці на сім'ю. То ми запаслись і молоком. Ніхто не страждав – всі сподівались що так і перебудемо.  

|° Machine Translation (with some my correction) °|  

On February 24 we slept. Explosions were heard through the dream. They immediately thought that something was thundering – they didn't pay attention. The godfather called at 6 am, saying "the war has begun", relatives from Ripkin district say that the enemies have already crossed the border.  

They started going to work, turned on the TV, and here, too, they say that the war. Both my husband and I were told at work that we might not come to work. We stayed at home. The explosions were getting closer and closer.  

The next day the explosions were even closer. The son and his wife came from Chernihiv to escape the war.  

We first spent the explosions in the house. We have two cats, so we focused on them: if the cats behave calmly – we have nothing to worry about. Our troops were standing around the village, we knew it was ours firing. When the cats started hiding, we knew they were shooting at us. At that time we were already hiding: next to our house (we live in a two-vault eight-apartment house) there is an old garden with a strong cellar. My neighbors and I set up a bomb shelter there: we turned on the lights, brought a heater, and put on old blankets. We were not afraid of bombing, because that cellar was well fortified.  

So we lived until March 2. On March 3, a shell flew into our house. He knocked down the corner of the building, the roof was broken. Fortunately, there was no one in the room that was hit – no one was injured. But we knew exactly what came from the Russians.  

On March 3-5, we almost did not leave the cellar – there were fierce battles. Just sat and prayed. They went to cook in turns and very quickly, so as not to put everyone at risk. They supported each other in that cellar, joked. We hoped that in this way we would stay until ours repulsed them. We kept in touch with our soldiers. As long as it was possible – they cooked them food, passed them.  

No one went hungry, although it was no longer possible to buy food in the store. There was a delivery of bread three times – two loaves per family, then we put what we didn't eat in the refrigerator "until the worst of times". The farm distributed milk – about a 3-liter jar for the family. Then we stocked up on milk. Nobody suffered – everyone hoped that we would survive.  

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The web source https://suspilne. media/ talks on Ukrainian language only! I can say with all my heart that I did not put much of my efforts to create this article. Most difficult work here was to find this native live witness. Such way of work is not in my usual practice because my preference is to create some fiction texts but not to translate or explanate something.  

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[ Intermedia: Russians enters in Yagodnoye ]  

Одного разу ми почули сильні кулеметні черги. Зрозуміли, що бій іде вже у селі. Вони зайшли в село з боку школи, а ми живемо на іншому боці.  

Один із наших сусідів працював кочегаром у школі. Він пішов разом зі своєю дружиною протопити приміщення. Там були люди. Ще до війни домовилися, що ті, у кого немає хорошого погреба, зможуть укритися від обстрілів у шкільному підвалі.  

Кочегар із дружиною не повернулися. Наступного дня ми пішли з його сином, аби дізнатись, що з ними. Повернули з нашої вулиці – по нас почали стріляти. Були одиночні вистріли. Ми злякались – повернулись.  

5 березня ми з чоловіком пішли з погреба додому варити їсти. Бої продовжувались. Ми нашвидкуруч зварили картоплю в мундирах. Налаштовували сумку з їжею, і тут побачили, що по селу ходять солдати з червоними пов'язками. Вікно було вибите, жалюзі були закриті – ми через щілину побачили, що вони ходять з автоматами, заглядають в погреби, вишукують людей. Кого знайшли – витягують і кричать їм "ідіть у школу". Бачимо, що вже із погреба виводять наших дітей і сусідів – ведуть до своєї машини з червоним хрестом. Ми вхопили торбу, побігли до них. Сказали нам сідати в машину, поїдемо до школи. Ми категорично не хотіли сідати в авто, сказали, що можемо і пішки дійти. Потім нам почала говорити їхня фельдшерка, що відвезуть нас у безпечне місце, у школі хороший підвал. Ми сказали, якщо нам небезпечно залишатись тут, то ми і пішки дійдемо. Вони погодились, дозволивши взяти із собою з підвалу необхідні речі.  

|° Machine Translation (with some my correction) °|  

One day we heard heavy machine-gun fire. They realized that the battle was already going on in the village. They entered the village from the school side, and we live on the other side.  

One of our neighbors worked as a fireman at the school. He went with his wife to heat the room. There were people there. Even before the war, it was agreed that those who did not have a good cellar would be able to take shelter from shelling in the school basement.  

The fireman and his wife did not return. The next day we went with his son to find out what was wrong with them. They returned from our street and started firing at us. There were single shots. We were scared – we came back.  

On March 5, my husband and I went home from the cellar to cook. The fighting (around the village) continued. We quickly cooked potatoes in coats. They set up a bag of food, and then they saw soldiers with red armbands walking around the village. The window was broken, the blinds were closed – we saw through the crack that they were walking with machine guns, looking into the cellars, looking for people. Who they found was taken out and shouted at them "go to school". We see that our children and neighbors are being taken out of the cellar and taken to their car with a red cross. We grabbed the bag and ran to them. We were told to get in the car and go to school. We categorically did not want to get in the car, we said we could walk. Then their paramedic started telling us that they would take us to a safe place, a good basement at the school. We said that if it was dangerous for us to stay here, we would walk. They agreed, allowing the necessary things to be taken from the basement.  

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[ Second stage: Russians and civilians in Yagodnoye ]  

Коли тільки ми прийшли до школи, там стояло багато їхньої різної техніки. На всіх – літера "О". Навколо – багато російських солдатів. Підійшла до однієї групки солдат, кажу: "Хлопці, ви ж наші брати, ви ж білоруси! Навіщо ж ви до нас прийшли, навіщо ж напали? Ми ж добре жили, ніяких проблем не було, ви ж до нас на базар приїжджали. Невже у вас був привід на нас нападати? ". Вони спитали, з чого ми взяли, що вони білоруси. Сказала, що у них же на техніці літера "О". Вони усміхнулись між собою, сказали: "Вибачте, ми не знали, куди нас привезли, ми приїхали на навчання, не хотіли воювати". Але ці були схожі на білорусів. Підійшла до інших, а ті були більше схожі чи на якутів, чи на башкирів. Я до них російською: "Чому ви приїхали? Ми ж вам приводу не давали воювати, чому ви тут? ". Вони: "У нас наказ", я їм: "А якщо скажуть стріляти у мирне населення, ви що, будете стріляти? ", вони мені: "У нас немає такого наказу. А взагалі, наказ є наказ – ми його маємо виконувати".  

Потім ще в одного спитала, навіщо нас усіх сюди зігнали? Використовувати як живий щит? Інша моя односелиця намагалась мені суперечити, мовляв, нас захищають від обстрілів. Я кажу: "Яка різниця, якщо влучить у школу – буде одна братська могила". Кивнула на одного солдата, кажу: "Синок, так це я права? ". Він глянув, кивнув "так", виступили у нього сльози на очах. Видно, хлопцю 18 років, сам не розуміє, чого він тут. Було багато таких, по 18-20 років. А були й такі, що вже років по 40, яким однаково, де воювати і в кого стріляти. З тими говорити було марно.  

Коли я далі з ними говорила, тут якийсь старший за званням почав мені казати: "Ти хто така, чому сюди прийшла, чому розводиш паніку, іди звідси", на що я відповіла, що прийшла сюди не по своїй волі – під дулом автомату, відпустите – то я й піду. Вже була сьома година вечора (комендантська година), я розуміла, що вертатись не можна, бо розстріляють. Далі зрозуміла, що з ними говорити не можна, бо добалакаюсь до чогось поганого для себе. Пішла до підвалу.  

|° Machine Translation (with some my correction) °|  

As soon as we got to school, there was a lot of their different equipment. On all – the letter "O". There are many Russian soldiers around. I approached a group of soldiers and said: "Guys, you are our brothers, you are Belarusians! Why did you come to us, why did you attack? We lived well, there were no problems, you came to our bazaar. Really. did you have a reason to attack us? " They asked where we came from, that they are Belarusians. She said that they have the letter "O" on the technique. They smiled at each other and said, "I'm sorry, we didn't know where we were taken, we came to study, we didn't want to fight. " But these were similar to the Belarusians. She approached others, and they were more like either Yakuts or Bashkirs. I said to them in Russian: "Why did you come? We did not give you a reason to fight, why are you here? ". They said, "We have an order, " and I said, "And if they tell me to shoot at civilians, are you going to shoot? " They said to me, "We don't have such an order..  

Then I asked another one, why were we all driven here? Use as a human shield? Another of my fellow villagers tried to contradict me, saying that they were protecting us from shelling. I say, "What difference does it make if he hits the school – there will be one mass grave. " I nodded at one of the soldiers and said, "Son, am I right? " He looked, nodded "yes", tears came to his eyes. Apparently, the 18-year-old boy himself does not understand why he is here. There were many of them, aged 18-20. And there were those who are already 40 years old, who do not care where to fight and who to shoot. It was useless to talk to them.  

When I continued talking to them, a senior officer began to say to me: "Who are you, why did you come here, why are you panicking, get out of here", to which I replied that you came here against your will – under the barrel of a machine gun, let go – then I'll go. It was already seven o'clock in the evening (curfew), I understood that it was impossible to return, because they were shooting. Then I realized that I can't talk to them, because I'm getting into something bad for myself. Went to the basement.  

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For who want to continue to translate this witness story from Yagodnoye under Russian occupation into language easy for your reading I set the full address link. Only cut the couple аsterisk with spaces in:  

https://suspilne. ** media/225092-mi-tut-** zivij-sit-vin-lise-shvalno-** pokivav-golovou-zitelka-** agidnogo-pro-zitta-v-okupacii/  

Use the Google translator tool as I did it and know the truth about the Russian-Ukrainian war relations.  

I can tell what now I don't believe to any media Ukrainian source. They are unreliable for the most part.  

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[ A few of my conclusions about this episode of the relationship between Russian military personnel in this war and the Ukrainian propaganda desire to portray Russians as terrible creatures ( for in country and export usage both ). ]  

The Yagodnoye village was occupied by a Russian tactical battle group with no face to face clashes in any Ukraine military forces. After that, the Armed Forces of Ukraine began regular shelling of the Russian battalion stationed at this position, inhabited by Ukrainian civilians who were there. During the artillery operations, the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not pay attention to the fact that the houses of these peaceful Ukrainians were repeatedly fired upon by long-range Ukrainian artillery. No one in the Ukrainian General Staff cared about possible injuries, damage to the infrastructure of the village and the death of occupied Ukrainians.  

All the stories of this witness of the Russian occupation about the heavy damage inflicted on her household, the livestock and poultry of her neighbors, about the destruction in the private houses of the villagers refer exclusively to the period when the position of the village of Yagodnoye was fired upon by artillery of "friends" for this resident of the village Armed Forces of Ukraine, although she herself avoids directly pointing out the cause of these destructions.  

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From these first stories of residents of the village of Yagodnoye, survivors of the short Russian occupation, it becomes clear that the basements of the school were the only place equipped with at least some amenities that saved the civilians of this village from long-range Ukrainian artillery work. Here, direct witnesses of the occupation also refute further forgery of Ukrainian propaganda, which tells that the soldiers of the Russian army allegedly starved the inhabitants of Yagodnoye in the basement of a local school day and night, preventing them from leaving this premises, which the occupiers turned into a kind of prison. The inhabitants of Yagodnoye were let out during the day for any household needs – to milk a cow, look after the economy, destroyed by the war, look after their house, and so on. The servicemen of the Russian unit stationed in this village of Yagodnoye, consisting of "some kind of narrow-eyed Asians, " perfectly knew how to use all public services and city amenities, without confusing toilet bowls with salad bowls. All stories about "Russian Siberian barbarians which are poor, wild and incredible cruel" are rough fake made by Ukrainian nationalistic staff bench. There in any wartime and battle places could be happen several criminal actions but Russian soldiers are not more violent than soldiers and officers of any other army.  

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The Ukraine today is not a country representing an independent economic community, but a battlefield, a battlefield between the EU-style methods of peace enforcement and those methods that are understood in Russia. Western-style warfare is based on the institutions of various economic pressures. The Russian vision of the methods of war is limited by the mental capacity of a single person in the government of this country, who has arrogated to himself all the rights to legitimize the instruments of warfare.  

The victory of the collegial method of forming a percussion group is as obvious as the advantage of polyphony over a monotonous musical range. A listener unable to hear the difference between midi and seven-track melodies is obviously deaf. However, the same approach of diversity in the perception of polyphony is also valid for the consumer of political propaganda products. Consuming stories from the only source of the propaganda flow is as stupid as listening to a classical symphony performed by an orchestra tuned exclusively to the midi sound format. Any propaganda machine prefers, for its exercises and serving prepared meals to the outside eater, the dictatorship of the only permitted opinion. Ukrainian nationalist propaganda seeks to portray the Russian soldier as a savage, with bloodthirsty joy obeying the exclusively anti-human orders of his criminal command. In order to create this disgusting image, Ukrainian propaganda is ready to go to any forgery, to bribe any number of witnesses to the Russian occupation, to ban any independent investigation into the history of this occupation, including the physical elimination of all sources of information that contradict the official point of view of the government headed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his staff environment which all had grew up from an united Ukrainian TV-show "Servant of People".