the painful return of the inhabitants of Chernihiv after the withdrawal of Russian troops

It is the first time since the end of the battle of Chernihiv that Andriy, Diana and their older brother Maxim have returned to their school. “I heard the bombs whistle. In my street, it was shooting with automatic weapons. I was afraid“, breathes one of the children.

The governor of the Chernihiv region, a road and rail lock in the northeast
of Kyiv, said on Friday (April 1) that Russian troops who had besieged the city since the start of the invasion of Ukraine had begun to withdraw. The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that it will reduce its activity around kyiv and Chernihiv to concentrate its military efforts on the “liberation” of Donbass, in eastern Ukraine.

Behind this return to Chernhivi, there is Vitali, the father ofAndriy, Diana and Maxim, who insisted on coming. “It’s truly sad. I wanted to show my children what a state their school was in. The children remained hidden in the cellar. And as soon as they heard a noise that I couldn’t hear, he shouted: ‘Dad, the planes are coming!“

Two schools of Chernihiv have been bombed, as well as nearby homes, in a Russian strike on March 3, killing 47 dead. Inside the children’s school that day: civilians and volunteers engaged in Ukrainian territorial defence. Ludmila lives in a house next door. She says angrily:It was a voluntary act. Here, there is neither a military base nor anything strategic: only civilian houses. It was a determined attack on civilians. I don’t know what the right term is, but a war crime is too nice. Even the fascists didn’t do that.”

The NGO Human Rights Watch also denounced on Sunday abuses by Russian soldiers against civilians amounting to “war crimes” in the regions of Chernihiv, Kharkiv and kyiv, saying it had identified several cases of “violations of the laws of war”. (rape, summary executions, violence, threats, looting). In addition, the French national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office announced on April 5, 2022 the opening of three investigations against X for “war crimes” concerning “acts likely to have been committed to the detriment of French nationals in Ukraine”. The facts referred to would have occurred in Chernihiv since February 24, the date of the launch of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, as well as in Mariupol, between February 25 and March 16, in Gostomel between March 1 and March 12.