"Almost all the neighbours died. My aunt’s body was not found either"

At the time of recording the interview, Liudmyla Orzhekhovska’s aunt still was not found under the rubble in Borodyanka. Although rescuers found the remains of an elderly person’s spine amid the ruins of a high-rise building where Liudmyla’s relative lived. Liudmyla suspects that this is her aunt and is waiting for the DNA results.

On the day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, Liudmyla Orzhekhovska went to Kyiv. She then could not return home to Borodyanka. Later, the woman learned that it was this that saved her life. An aerial bomb was dropped on the high-rise building where Liudmyla lived.

On the morning of 24 February, I went to Kyiv and wanted to come back, but a fighting broke out already near Hostomel soon. I could not return, and I stayed in Kyiv for more than a month. I called my neighbours and asked how it was here, what was going on here, and whether the windows were intact. And on the last day – on 1 March – my neighbour told me that they were in the basement. Five people died there. Almost all the neighbours died; of those whom I knew, almost all of them died. My doctor lived in the next entrance, next building section, and her whole family died too.

A little further there, along the central street, my aunt lived. I talked to her in the evening. She had been staying in the basement for five days before that. And she told me, “I was freezing there.” While her flat was the only one that remained with windows. There was no more window glass on the balcony, but she still had windows intact in her flat. And she said, “I will stay at home today.” Because the house with the basement where they had been staying, was on fire. Her neighbours called her to go to the hospital’s basement. She said,

They have not even found her. Some DNA tests will be made. They found a piece of the human spine and said it looked like it belongs to an elderly person. So we gave our DNA samples. We don’t know yet. Also some bones of some child were found there. I grew up in Borodyanka, here, where the House of Culture (community centre) is. My grandmother lived here. Well, there had been a private house, but then those houses were demolished and people were provided with flats instead. Well, in the end, I have come back here and I am left with nothing again.

You know, it’s so hard... Sometimes I think it might be better to stay here. Because, you know, I kept thinking, “I’ll buy this for my flat and I’ll buy that for my flat, so that later, when I cannot work anymore... I am an accountant. I have a problem with my eyesight. Now, I cannot work anymore. I thought I would have everything I need. I bought this and that for my flat... And in one minute I was left with nothing.

Well, I am now living at my son’s place, but he has his family, he’s got two kids. I do not believe that our houses will be re-built. It will take many years. I don’t have so many such years ahead, I think.