“...Kadyrovites Go From House To House, Throw Grenades into Basements, Cut People and Rape Them”: The (Un)Known Story of the Borodіanka Urban-Type Settlement Occupation in Spring 2022

(record and publication by S. Makhovska)

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to supplement the source base of oral history testimonies about the survival conditions of Kyiv region residents during the Russian occupation in February — March 2022 in the Borodianka urban-type settlement, Bucha district in particular. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Borodianka was among the settlements along the route of the Russian offensive on Kyiv. The locals first found themselves in the epicenter of the fighting, and in March 2022, they were occupied. The behavior of the invaders, who included many Kadyrovites, was particularly cruel, so the testimonies of the surviving Borodianka residents can serve as an additional source of information about Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine.

The main research method was interviews based on a questionnaire developed and tested in 2022—2023 during the oral history testimonies recording in the Chernihiv region. Considering the behavior specifics of the various enemy military formations (Kadyrovites, Buryats, Russians, etc.) in different regions of Ukraine, an expanded version of the questionnaire was used to interview respondents in the Kyiv region. The interview below contains eyewitness accounts of numerous occupants’ atrocities in Borodianka, the experience of civilians meeting them, mutual assistance between the villagers in complete isolation, the psycho-emotional reactions of the older generation who witnessed World War II to the current war, etc.

The scientific novelty lies in the introduction of oral history evidence of life under occupation, siege, and active hostilities in the Kyiv region during the first months of the Russian full-scale invasion.

Conclusions. The documented materials are an important component of the source base of the modern history of Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian war, in particular, in the segment of evidence about the peculiarities of self-organization of the population in the conditions of military life and Russian crimes against the civilian population.