“When the street fighting was continuing, our girls were packing and hiding the exhibits”

The Museum of Local History in Vasylkiv has more than a thousand exhibits from different historical periods. The world-famous Vasylkiv majolica was born here, and it was here where a figurine of the decorative majolica rooster, which became a symbol of Ukrainian resilience, was produced. It was that famous ceramic decorative statuette that miraculously survived the airstrike on a high-rise building in Borodyanka. At the beginning of the invasion, russian assault forces landed in Vasylkiv. The building where the museum is located turned into a shelter. The museum’s director Raisa Lipchanska met the war in Vasylkiv, and later came to be under the occupation near Bucha.

We have pottery items with decorative patterns and band ornamented ceramics. These are precisely the items associated with Trypillia culture. We have one artisan, Zoya Predko. She is a young woman, but she is already known in many countries. This is an example of the band ornamented ceramics. A figurine of a decorative ceramic rooster from Borodyanka. This rooster was produced by Vasylkiv majolica factory. We have a whole family, in fact: a rooster and a hen. In the 1960s, the majolica factory was just opened. It was a newly built factory and artists came to work there. Some known artists came to work at the factory. There were four majolica factories in Ukraine at that time, but Vasylkiv factory was kind of a curator, a master factory for all these majolica factories. There were the Protoryevs. This is a product by the Protoryev family. Their products were just unique.

The Denysenkos – the Denysenko dynasty. They worked at the Protoryev factory, and they are known in many countries of the world. Their works were exhibited in 36 countries of the world. Many of their works are in museums all over the world, especially where Ukrainian Diasporas are active. Some things are listed in the World Heritage Brochure. Vasylkiv is one of the most ancient towns of Kyivan Rus. It was founded in 998. And Nestor the Chronicler mentioned it in his writing in 996. Every historical period in the development of our town is represented by one exposition. We even have some items from the Palaeolithic era. When the majolica factory was being built, they found an early man site. There are also mammoth tusks, some early man’s tools, and some items of the Trypillia culture there.

We had two settlements of Trypillia culture in Vasylkiv region, namely Chernyakhiv culture, Scythian culture, especially the Scythian period. Scythians lived on our territory, let’s say, it was in the 3rd – 1st millennium BC. We have a very good exposition of the Scythian period. There is even a burial mask from Perepyatykha mound dated 6th century BC, and some tools, like the first iron sword, and some women’s jewellery. We have all this.

We had bags with sand placed everywhere here. We tried our best to save things. Who knew what would happen next? Exactly on 24 February... I live in a military community district of the town. I live on the eighth floor, and all the windows overlook the airfield. Vasylkiv airfield, where the planes are. It is the protection of Kyiv. I never believed that Russia could attack us, never. My late husband was a military man. He was from Oryol city (Russia), he was Russian. We have many relatives there. Every year, we went there to visit them, and they came to visit us too. We had good relations between us.

And then, when the explosion rang out (there is Stolychnyi district near the airfield, and there, near Stolychnyi, an explosion rang out). I realized that, and a pillar of fire rose up. I saw some vehicles near the house. The military were running out. Even earlier, they were rushing out and getting into the cars and driving away. We have many soldiers living here. Families with children were packing their belongings and putting them into cars. Children were wrapped in blankets. People were carrying some bags. The cars left literally in an hour. All the cars drove off from the house. I packed up my “grab bag”, my documents, some money I had, and came to work. I did not know what to do next. I came to my work. We have a bomb shelter here, in the Community Centre (House of Culture), and there were already many people staying there. People came over with their thermos flask and with everything else.

They were getting ready for it. And explosions were ringing out. Well, it’s good that some volunteers gave everyone some soothing agents because people were stressed and did not understand what was going on. I have... So I live alone, and my sister takes care of me. She has a house in Mykulychi (village). It is next to Nemishayeve. Well, they came. My son-in-law and our neighbour went to Borodyanka to get assault rifles, as the local territorial defence unit was already gathering there. There was already a dugout made there. Local men built it at the exit from Mykulychi. There were no weapons available, and they came back. At night, the tanks entered. And the columns – the so-called Warsaw highway (Varshavka). Their main direction was from there. They were moving in columns and passed by our... We… [Our] house was not directly near Varshavka highway, but on a different street, and there was a field around it. So columns of tanks were also moving along that road.

I had not seen them anywhere else. There were two of them. I don’t know their diameter. Maybe two metres each. Two pieces on towing vehicles, producing a loud roaring noise. Even the fences were shaking. So, they went in. First, those were the Pacific Marine Infantry soldiers who had fought in Syria. How do we know? Because we had an uninhabited house nearby, and they made their headquarters there. When the first of them came to us, I looked at their uniforms and gear, their helmets... Well, previously, I saw our soldiers, in our military district, how they looked like. They [the russians] made a search. They ransacked everything: the sheds and cellars. Well, we were staying in the cellar. They had their weapons and equipment/vehicles with them. The column of military vehicles stopped, and they went searching from yards to yard. They left the yard, and left me sitting and crying there. I said, “My Lord, I wonder what our guys are wearing now, when these have such uniforms and gear?” But you know, nevertheless, there was never a single second of doubt about our victory.

However, my son-in-law has a modern phone, and he connected it to his car, to the cigarette lighter socket. And our friend, who is a businessman, found us. He got in touch with us. He had some connection with our counter-intelligence. But there was no telephone signal. My son-in-law climbed over the fences, set up a ladder, as their headquarters was nearby… Two houses away from there, there was a two-storey building. He went there, climbed to the roof and transmitted some information. They counted the tanks. After the de-occupation, he was even given an appreciation certificate from the brigade that defended Bucha and Kyiv. You know, shooting and shelling was constant. We already got so used to it that if the shooting stopped, we got scared, fearing that Kyiv might be taken [by enemy]. It was terrible, and they kept shooting, their planes were flying...

The pavement in the yard and the house were damaged by [shell] fragments. Behind our fence, there was a neighbouring wooden house. It was a newly built wooden house with solar panels. It burned down. They [the enemy troops] were driving in the evening, and, apparently, those solar panels were reflecting light… It’s good that we were staying in the cellar. The house burned down to ashes immediately. A cluster bomb landed in the yard of our other neighbours, who lived two houses away from us. We know it was a cluster bomb because it left numerous slashes. That’s what our guys said, as I myself don’t have a clue.

There is a lake opposite Hostomel, about two kilometres away. We used to go there for a swim. So some local people from the village called Stare Selo came and said that there were 300 pieces of military vehicles gathered there. From there, those vehicles were then going to Hostomel, to Bucha and elsewhere. Those Pacific marine soldiers were more or less cultured. They told us not to go outside the gate of our yard, “because we have a lot of fools here”. And so we did not go outside the gate. When the column stopped right near our house, the entire column stopped, and somebody started knocking on our gate. We did not open it. We were in the yard; we were basking in the sun. It was just a sunny day. Then we saw a russian soldier climbing over the gate.

First we saw his helmet rising from behind the gate, then the machine gun, and then his head. He climbed over, opened the gate, and everyone from the column entered the yard. This was already their second wave [rotation], not the Pacific marines. Those previous ones were more or less cultured. So they walked into the yard. We had our dog in the yard and the dog rushed towards them. One of the soldiers pointed his submachine gun at the dog and said, “I am going to shoot now.” It was not clear if he meant shooting at the dog or shooting at us. Who knows him? Well, I dragged the dog away and closed it inside the house. They looked around the yard, here and there. That’s it. They stayed at our place for quite a long time. It was scary. It’s good that my son-in-law was not at home. He is a solid-bodied man with a beard. He grew it then. And he... There is a farm not far away from our place. Its owner ran away then, and there were many cows and pigs left there. They were dying of hunger (there was no electricity supply). So my son-in-law and our neighbour walked to the farm, straight across the field, opened it and released all these cattle. Later, they sorted it out in some way, they found some milkmaids, etc. It was just at the time when calves were born and the cows needed to be milked, while nothing worked there. It was a real nightmare! My son-in-law was crying when he came there and saw all that.

You know, as I already said: we did not have a single moment of doubt about our victory, even though such “Armadas” of large [enemy] formations were coming. And the best picture for us was when we watched the column passing by. We counted the number of tanks in the column and made a telephone call (we have the second floor, so we could see them from the window). And then, clouds of smoke were rising – those tanks were burning. It was the best picture. We were just running from one window to another. We placed some boxes, climbed up on top of them and looked from behind the fence. We looked to see where the fire was. We wondered if the column was moving towards Makariv. As from Varshavka highway, they advanced to Makariv, and in the direction of Bucha and Hostomel. Some houses were damaged by fire. Later, our neighbour told us… Well, it was even shown on television later. The column went towards Bucha, and they were crushed and smashed there. Only one tank remained, and 50 Buryat soldiers were moving on foot, following that tank.

His buddies tied him up then and took him somewhere. So, russians were given it hot there in Bucha. They got the works there. We were allowed to leave only after Easter, as everything around was mined, even the house where their headquarters was. When our soldiers came, they found a mine there. At the end of March, they started to dig trenches opposite to us, they put their tanks in the trenches exactly in the direction of Bucha and Makariv. When they were preparing their defence positions and digging trenches, we thought that it would be the end of us there. But for some reason, as far as I remember, it was on 31 March, some command probably came, as they packed up, removed all the stuff from the headquarters, loaded everything on the tanks and left. You know, my sister and I watched it and laughed. All those bales, multi-coloured bales wrapped in plastic film and placed on top of tanks. They all fastened upon the tank turrets. They were sitting on top, and everything around them was laid with bales and stuff.

They plundered all that stuff from the houses where there were no owners. They took everything from those houses. So they were driving on tanks, sitting on top under women’s umbrellas, as it was raining at that time. That was a picture to remember! If our phone had been in working order then, we could have filmed a video of it. It could be a valuable footage. Our armed forces came on 2 April. You know, we all went out, and we all were crying here, standing near this fence. They [Ukrainian soldiers] walked by looking so tired, their faces unshaven. That was a reconnaissance team. The first armoured personnel carrier came in, and these men came with it. They walked from one yard to another, everywhere. We told them everything. We told them where the headquarters was. They checked everything there.

In fact, we then stayed without electricity and without gas supply for quite a long time, but you know, we were so glad that we were liberated.