The British magazine Time dedicated the cover and the new issue to the residents of the village of Yagodne, who were kept by the Russian military in the basement of a local school for almost a month during the occupation of the Chernihiv region of Ukraine.
On the cover of the publication is a photograph of a local resident Olga Minyailo, taken on March 31, during the last hours that the villagers spent in the basement.
For an article dedicated to what happened in Yagodnoye, journalists talked to the villagers. They said that Russian troops entered the village on March 3, 2022 – exactly one week after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Soon all the villagers were taken to the basement of the local school, where they stayed until March 31. Those who refused to comply with the requirements of the military or suspicion, according to the residents of Yagodnoe, were killed.
Inside the basement where entire Ukrainian village spent a harrowing month in captivity https://t.co/jGbQU3kr2qpic.twitter.com/K28ZWnqteU
– TIME (@TIME) February 15, 2023
In the basement area of 170 sq. m contained 367 people of all ages, including 70 children. People slept on the floor, benches and chairs. They were taken to the toilet only during the day, at night they had to use buckets. The military, who set up a headquarters in the same school, occasionally gave them food, and the villagers had to get water on their own.
The basement was damp and stuffy. 10 people died in custody due to lack of oxygen, care and medicine. The Russian military, according to the villagers, did not allow their bodies to be buried for several days. Residents of Yagodnoye compare imprisonment in the basement with a concentration camp.
In June, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced criminal proceedings against nine Russian soldiers from the 55th separate motorized rifle brigade suspected of committing crimes in Yagodnoe. According to the prosecutor’s office, in addition to the 10 who died in the basement, another 17 villagers were killed during the occupation.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.