Chernihiv, located 100 kilometers away from the Belarusian city of Gomel, was hit by Russian forces during the first days of the war. The city was razed to the ground on all sides for nearly a month. By early June, the Russians had torn down all the bridges, making it impossible to bring anything to the regional center, which had already lost power, heating, water and communications. People could not be evacuated either. Over a hundred thousand residents were left in the city, a morning less than before the war.
For a whole month Chernihiv was under constant shelling. Its outskirts were demolished to the ground. Up to 350 civilians were killed by shelling, but many more died due to lack of medication, food and heat.
The Chernihiv defenders not only prevented the Russians from reaching the city, but also did not let them go further – to Kiev.

It’s quiet and empty on the outskirts of Chernihiv. The life from there went away and never came back. Under the park, a young man is sitting on the bench by himself.
“Good afternoon, can I talk to you?” – We go straight to him. The man does not respond. We say again: “We’re journalists!” – We try to get through. The man keeps talking. Then he walks up from the bench, surprised. He points to his ears and explains that he can not feel well: “The peritoneals are broken as a result of the explosions. I became deaf. I survived all the hell. I am 70 years old.
The man’s name was Mikola. When most of his neighbors were involved in the war, he did not go: “I lived on this earth, did not go – and survived. Thank God.
But not everyone survived. Mr. Mikola shouts and breaks the dead silence that hangs over his city. He leads us to the basement filled with earth. There, during the bombardment, his captive and his friend were killed. The man was killed. He was simply buried in the city a few meters away from the place of death.
On his grave, a cross was carved in stone. On a rough unhewn tree – a bun and three tsukierki. On the black earth is a brown rind in a plastic cup.
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