Alexander Topchy16:01, 18.03.23

Some of the Russian occupiers were trained military men, while the rest “resembled the homeless in shabby clothes.”

During the capture of the Kiev region a year ago, Russian invaders slaughtered and ate almost all the ostriches on a farm in the village of Zdvizhevka, Buchansky district .

About this in an interview with the publication ” Vecherniy Kiev ” said a local resident, history teacher Yuri Pogrebnyak. It is noted that Zdvizhevka spent 35 days in Russian occupation. There were more than 800 villagers there, including about a hundred children, as well as families from Kyiv, who on February 24 left the capital to visit relatives, hoping that it would be safer outside the city.

According to Pogrebnyak, the main columns of Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers appeared in Zdvizhivka on February 25, moving towards Kyiv.

“The occupiers placed equipment on the ostrich farm, set up a warehouse there, and in the evening of February 25 they began to disperse around the village and break into houses. They broke down the gates with equipment, put tanks, artillery in the yard and fired from there,” he said.

Pogrebnyak himself was expelled from his house by the Russians and set up headquarters there, so he was forced to live with retired neighbors.

According to him, some of the invaders were trained military men, while the rest “resembled the homeless in shabby clothes.” At the beginning of the invasion, they went from house to house and changed fuel for moonshine. The Russians also spread their propaganda.

“The Russians said, they say, don’t worry, be patient for three days. Putin will change the president for you and everything will be fine. They told us that they came to protect the “fraternal people” from the “fascists.” village and were looking for “Bandera”. At the same time, who Stepan Bandera was, what he fought for, they had no idea. They did not perceive any other information … It seemed that I was faced with a completely different world, living according to some , inhuman, distorted rules, also in the Soviet past. Russians are so encoded by Putin’s propaganda that it seems impossible to decode them,” Pogrebnyak said.

Due to the resistance of the Ukrainians, which the Russian invaders did not expect, and the heavy losses, they were very embittered. “They drank all the vodka, ransacked the store and started looting. They took garden cars from people, loaded them with TVs, tape recorders, computers, washing machines, irons, pots, pans…” says a village resident.

His house was also robbed and smashed. “Even the threads with needles were gone… In the middle of the house everything was broken. The invaders removed all the plumbing: faucets, toilets, sinks. They took all my clothes, even my panties… The Russians raked out everything they saw. They even pulled entire kitchen cabinets with dishes inside. And the invaders ran away so quickly that they threw weapons and ammunition, which were then taken out by sappers, “says Pogrebnyak.

He also said that the locals tried to resist as best they could. In particular, they fixed equipment, looked for a place where they caught communication and transmitted the coordinates of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They also constantly cut telephone cables that the Russians laid for communication. In the meantime, the invaders slaughtered and ate almost all the ostriches that were on the local farm.

“One Russian signalman even went around, asking the villagers not to damage the cables, because they were already tired of repairing them every day. He somehow brought us a piece of fried ostrich so that we could try. It turns out they killed almost all the ostriches on the farm and ate. Only two birds managed to escape, “says Pogrebnyak.

The dogs were also unlucky, and the occupiers threatened to shoot them if they barked. “A lot of dogs also ran around the village, because many people let the animals off the chains so that they would be saved … However, some dogs were not lucky. The Buryats ate them …”, he noted.

(C)UNIAN 2023