The third anniversary of the liberation of Kyiv region: eyewitness stories collected by the Museum of Civilian Voices founded by Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

2 April marks the third anniversary of the de-occupation of Kyiv region from russian troops. At least fifteen communities in Vyshhorodskyi, Buchanskyi and Brovarskyi districts were under occupation then. The hostilities in the region lasted for over a month. The Museum of Civilian Voices founded by Rinat Akhmetov Foundation has collected stories of people who witnessed and suffered from these terrible events.

Serhii, a resident of Irpin, learned about the deaths of his children from social media after identifying their belongings in a photo. Later he found out that his wife had also died during the evacuation. In an instant, the russian invaders had taken away everything he had ever lived for.

“I set up geolocation on my wife’s and children’s phones and constantly monitored them. The first suspicion that something was wrong came when the beacons moved to the hospital. By then, the children’s phones were no longer answering. His wife was alive for some time, but died in hospital. The people responsible for this must be convicted. They should be put to death”, says Serhii. Watch his story: https://bit.ly/3FRYvl5

For several weeks, Olena and her family hid from the shelling in a basement in Bucha. The worst thing for her was seeing death around her.
“We looked – a cart was coming from the end of the street, and it was carrying the bodies of two children wrapped in a white sheet... You know, it’s one thing to be told that someone was shot, and quite another to see it with your own eyes,” says Olena. Watch her story: https://bit.ly/3RwZHge

For more than a month, Lesia remained under shelling without electricity, water or communication in her native Irpin. But even in such conditions, she continued to work – baking bread with mineral water and distributing it to people who remained in the occupied city.

“I remember a woman came with two children. I handed her the bread, and the children kissed it and ate it immediately,” Lesia recalls. Watch her story: https://bit.ly/3FPtyhv

Anhelina and her family stayed in Bucha during the invasion. When the russians reached the town, there were battles right next to their house. One lasted more than five hours.

“The ground was shaking and rumbling. It was very scary because everything was happening right above our house. Our windows fell off, the walls cracked, but the house miraculously survived. But the house opposite was completely destroyed,” Anhelina recalls. Watch her story: https://bit.ly/4j6DmSo

Read more stories of people who survived the occupation of Kyiv region on the website of the Museum of Civilian Voices: https://bit.ly/42cCBka

The collection of the Museum of Civilian Voices founded by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation includes more than 130,000 stories about the war. It is the world’s largest collection of stories of civilians affected by russia’s war against Ukraine.