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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Shaun Walker in Staryi Bykiv

After Russians’ retreat, scarred Ukrainian village recounts month of terror

Yulia, the aunt of Bohdan Hladky, at the cemetery in Noviy Bykiv
Yulia, the aunt of Bohdan Hladky, at the cemetery in Noviy Bykiv. Photograph: Sviatoslav Medyk

The day the Russians arrived in the sleepy, windswept village of Staryi Bykiv, they killed six men. By the time they had departed 32 days later, the soldiers had carried out at least three more killings, destroyed the school, systematically looted dozens of houses and turned much of the central street into a wasteland of charred buildings and rubble.

The images from Bucha, west of Kyiv, have shocked the world and intensified Ukrainian anger over the Russian invasion, but the story emerging in harder-to-access small towns and villages east of the Ukrainian capital suggests those war crimes are far from an anomaly.

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