The Killed Civilians and the Open-Air Crematorium: How a Village in Chernihiv Region Survived Occupation
Atrocities of Russian troops during the occupation of a village in Chernihiv region: torture and execution of civilians, burning bodies in plain sight, and shelling civilian homes.
The spring of 2022 marked the beginning of tragedy for one village in the Chernihiv region. On that fateful morning, locals were startled by the frantic screams of a mother, echoing for kilometers. Gathering at the village’s central cross, they found the snow-covered bodies of four of their fellow villagers lying in a row. In a state of shock and deep sorrow, relatives used carts and sleds to transport the deceased, burying them in their own yards until better times…
This is the story of crimes committed by Russian soldiers in one of the villages in Chernihiv region. It is told from the testimonies of eyewitnesses, documented by representatives of the Human Rights House – Chernihiv.
Names of the deceased and their relatives have been changed.
Torture and execution of four civilian men
On February 24, 2022, villagers learned of the war’s onset from televisions and calls from loved ones. Later, they heard explosions outside the village. On February 27, Russian military vehicles rumbled through the village streets. The following day, Russian soldiers brutally killed four local men, marking the beginning of the village’s occupation, which lasted a month.
On the eve of March 1, 2022, at least four families stayed awake all night, their men not returning home. Until 7-8 in the morning, each family held onto hope, thinking they might have been delayed due to the occupation, spending the night with friends.
This hope dissipated for Petro first. Early in the morning, he went to search for his son Roman. He walked about a hundred meters from his home to the village’s central cross and saw the bodies of four men. Petro’s heart raced with dread; inside, everything churned with anticipation of impending tragedy. With great difficulty, he approached closer: among the dead was his 33-year-old son.
The tragedy reached Roman’s mother next. The woman collapsed near the cross, wiping the snow from her son’s face and screaming, “My son!!! For what???”. People heard this wild, inconsolable cry of a mother who lost her child from a kilometer away.
Katerina learned of her husband’s death, 34-year-old Stepan, next. Following her, Paulina was wounded by the news of her husband’s murder, 46-year-old Maxim. Julia came to collect her father’s body, 51-year-old Victor, with sleds, the last to know. She lived farthest from the center.
People transported the bodies of the slain to their homes and, as best they could, prepared them for burial. Thus, on the first day of spring, Stepan found his resting place in the garden, where he had planned to plow with his brand-new tractor that year. Maxim was buried beneath the window of the house he loved so much. And Roman – in the orchard, where as a child he loved to taste apples and cherries. Only Julia managed to bury her father in the cemetery: she lacked the strength to bring him home herself, but acquaintances helped her bury him in the cemetery.
Russian soldiers tortured all four unarmed villagers. Their bodies bore gunshot wounds to the genitals and legs, massive bruises, gun and stab wounds.
Murder of civilians and deaths due to lack of medication
On March 11th, the village came under shelling. Homes, streets, and most importantly, people, were affected.
“Uncle Vitya, save dad! Grandma is already dead,”
– with these words, a terrified girl ran to her neighbor.
That day, her grandmother Olena and grandfather Mykita from her father’s side were killed in the shelling. The husband had just come to bring things when a shell hit. Mykita died on the spot. Olena groaned for half an hour: her leg was torn off, so she slowly bled out and died. To alleviate her suffering in any way, the rural paramedic injected painkillers when she could reach the scene.
The son of the landlady, Mykola, also suffered a severe leg injury. But the man survived. He was taken to a neighbor who once served in the navy and knew the basics of first aid. He advised Mykola’s wife to pack the wound to stop the bleeding.
“And you know, she packed that wound. Her father was just killed, her mother-in-law died… But she gathered herself and managed to organize conditions for her husband to survive. Luckily, the paramedic had antibiotics. She injected them into the wounded man, so his condition stabilized. After the village was liberated, he was treated in Ukraine and abroad,” says a neighbor of the family who witnessed the events.
However, six villagers did not survive the occupation: they died due to a lack of specific medications and proper medical care. Among the deceased was the father of the tortured Stepan – Mykhailo. These people were also buried in their own yards.
“Open-air crematorium”
The battles for Chernihiv region lasted from February 24th to March 31st. The enemy repeatedly tried to take Chernihiv and was met with resistance. In many occupied villages, people provided coordinates of enemy equipment and locations of Russian troops. Based on this information, the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck. Consequently, the enemy suffered considerable losses.
Many villagers testify that Russian soldiers burned the bodies of their own soldiers. This happened on the territory of a destroyed grain storage.
According to locals, Russian soldiers transported the bodies with ambulances. Then they unloaded them near the demolished grain storage, poured something over them, and set them on fire. They finished off the wounded: villagers heard shots from the side of the storage.
The flames were violet-blue in color. The stench surrounded the area, making it difficult to breathe. This lasted for two days. During this nearly continuous burning, the concrete slabs on the grain storage resembled torn paper.
“In the first two days, the doors of the body trucks were still closed. Later, I saw hands hanging from the sides… The bodies at the farm burned for two days. From the window, I could see two soldiers taking the body, swinging it, and throwing it into the fire. The third one poured something from a bucket, and it burned. Breathing at that time was difficult, there was black smoke,” said a local resident.
Two years have passed. People are returning to normal life. The destroyed farm has been restored and is operating again. At the cross in the center of the village, the Ukrainian flag flies proudly, and a memorial plaque with the names of the slain villagers stands firmly. It serves as a reminder of the war crimes committed by Russian occupiers here…
The material was prepared by Natalia Naidiuk.
This publication is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the framework of the Human Rights in Action Program implemented by Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.
Opinions, conclusions and recommendations presented in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government. The contents are the responsibility of the authors.
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