Kapytolivka is a village of low, scattered cottages, just beyond the south-eastern tip of the Ukrainian town of Izium. The last house in the village is a simple white building with a corrugated iron roof, a chimney, and a front garden planted with a vine and roses. On 22 March 2022 it would have been a pretty spot, but for the armoured personnel carrier that the Russians had parked right outside. By then, Kapytolivka had been under occupation for a fortnight. Russian soldiers had taken over the houses of those who had fled; they had looted the shop, and stolen any cars they could find.
That day, a military car pulled up at the cottage. Earlier, the Russian occupiers had arrested one of the men who lived here and his autistic son: the 49-year-old writer Volodymyr Vakulenko and 13-year-old Vitaliy, who had not spoken a word for weeks. Now, a couple of hours later, the pair were being returned to the home they shared with the author’s father, also called Volodymyr Vakulenko.
