Olena Yurchenko: A Story of Survival and Recovery in Borodyanka

Olena Yurchenko has lived in Borodyanka for 36 years, working at a veterans' assistance center. She recalls how, before the onset of the full-scale invasion, her home was a place filled with traditions and friendly relationships. 'We lived here for many years. When we settled into this house, many people already knew each other, worked together, and thus traditions were formed. Neighbors often gathered, became friends. There was a very interesting playground here where all the children would gather in the evenings. The youth celebrated, and the adults would gather just to talk and spend time together. We knew almost everything about each other: shared holidays, birthdays. It was like a small family,' she recounted.

Before the war began, according to Olena, there was a palpable sense of anxiety in the village. People rushed to buy groceries, sensing that something bad was looming. 'I still remember going in to buy butter. I thought: I need to buy it today. But no, maybe tomorrow. And 'tomorrow' never came — tomorrow everything was destroyed. I was walking home from work and saw boys disassembling rifles near the military enlistment office. It became a bit eerie; there was such anxiety,' she recalled.

Just a few days later, enemy equipment entered Borodyanka, and reports of the first casualties began to emerge. Olena shared that a Russian tank struck a house, killing an entire family, including a small child, a grandmother, a grandfather, and other family members. 'It was just incomprehensible. There was such a stupor that you couldn't force yourself to do anything... The scariest day was the first of the month when the tanks had already broken through. They were moving down the main street and just shooting at the walls. We could hear the shells hitting the walls. We no longer slept in the bedroom but moved to a large room, [far from the windows]. We absolutely had no idea what to do,' she recounted.

During one of the shellings, a Russian shell hit Olena's apartment. 'The first explosion was very strong; it blew out the windows and doors in the apartment, and what saved me was that I was standing between two walls in the hallway. But, thank God, I laughed and said, 'I probably have a guardian angel.' My nephew was in the next room. It was very scary to think that your loved ones might be gone. But everyone responded, and [the realization came]: the apartment doesn’t matter. What matters is that your loved ones are alive. A bomb hit the neighboring house, and it just collapsed downwards. Later, we approached — it burned in the basement for another four days. I know that later it was said that a family died there: a husband, a wife, and three little girls. No one knows their fate,' the woman shared.

Olena could not leave Borodyanka because she was taking care of her elderly parents, and they were forced to remain under occupation and shelling, waiting each day for the Defense Forces to liberate them. Food, gas, and firewood supplies were rapidly depleting, and the only hope for the family was the Ukrainian military. 'The joy was such that it’s hard to convey. When we went out into the city — the soldiers were coming. On April 2, our troops appeared. On one hand, it was frightening to see the rifle, but then [the realization came]: these are our people; they are protecting you! I wanted to say, 'Guys, you are so wonderful.' I wanted to kneel before them just because they freed you from all this,' the woman recalled with tears in her eyes.

Despite losing her home, Olena was confident that she would have an even better apartment in the future, and that the Borodyanka destroyed by the occupiers would be rebuilt much better than before the war. She also described how she and her neighbors watched the demolition of her ruined building. 'It was very hard to endure. We sat with neighbors, watching... It felt like the excavator was removing those floors, and your life was being cut into pieces. There was your bedroom, your wallpaper, your belongings that remained in the apartment. But on the other hand, I know that many people in the East — in Bakhmut or Mariupol — have lost everything and cannot even return. Thank God we are here, in this place. We live where we want to live,' she said.

Olena also noted that what she experienced has forever changed her attitude towards her country and her origins. 'I felt what Ukraine means to me,' she shared.

Borodyanka, located at the intersection of several important highways in Kyiv region, became one of the main routes for the Russian advance on Kyiv from the Belarusian direction. The first Russian equipment appeared on the outskirts of the city, where there were no military facilities, as early as February 26. Borodyanka was liberated on April 1, 2022, after which its residents began to rebuild their lives, despite all the trials they had to endure.