Ukraine Borodyanka Survivor -- USAGM
Metadata
- Ukraine Borodyanka Survivor -- USAGM
- July 15, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English Ukraine Borodyanka Survivor – Kosstutschenko HEADLINE: 80-Year-Old Ukrainian Woman Confronts Russians, Rides Out Occupation in Apartment TEASER: Halyna Derevyanko had neither the strength nor the chance to flee to flee Borodyanka when the airstrikes began PUBLISHED AT: 7/15/2022 at 8:25am BYLINE: Anna Kosstutschenko CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Borodyanka, Kyiv Region, Ukraine VIDEOGRAPHER: Pavel Suhodolskiy VIDEO EDITOR: Pavel Suhodolskiy SCRIPT EDITORS: KE, Reifenrath VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Story Hunter PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __ TRT: 2:26 VID APPROVED BY: KE TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES:)) ((INTRO)) [[When Russian soldiers occupied Borodyanka in March, 80-year-old Halyna Derevyanko stayed in her apartment. Her neighbors had left, fleeing airstrikes, but she remained with her adult son in the five-story building because she had neither the strength nor the opportunity to leave the house. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story.]] ((NARRATION)) 80-year-old Halyna Derevyanko was in her apartment in Borodyanka, in the Kyiv region, when Russia invaded Ukraine. What she didn’t know then was that she would end up staying in this apartment throughout the Russian occupation in March. ((Halyna Derevyanko, Borodyanka Resident)) ((IN UKRAINIAN)) “There were only two of us in the whole building when Russians brоке in. They vandalized everything in the basement, and then there were two explosions, and my son's friend was blown up…” ((NARRATION)) As Russian soldiers tried to break the building entrance door, Derevyanko remembered her neighbor's advice: If occupiers are trying to force their entry, they can later punish residents for not helping them. So she decided it would be better to open the door herself. ((Halyna Derevyanko, Borodyanka Resident)) “I said, 'Here I am, in front of you, a gray-haired mother. Do with me what you want!'” ((NARRATION)) Russian soldiers didn’t believe Derevyanko when she told them the whole building was empty, and they started breaking doors to all the other apartments. After they searched the building, the occupiers wrote the letter P — for "provereno," or "checked" — on each apartment door, to indicate it had been inspected. They later returned to take what they wanted from the empty apartments, Derevyanko says. The apartment owners repaired the entrance door after Borodyanka was liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Derevyanko’s friend Valentina Myazova also returned to the town. She had stayed at a nearby village during the occupation, hoping things would be better there. ((Valentina Myazova, Borodyanka Resident)) “We thought it would be safer there. But it was hell. Russians came to us one day and told us they were looking for Nazis and Poles…” ((NARRATION)) After the Russians left, Myazova found her native town, Borodyanka, in ruins and many of her friends dead. ((Valentina Myazova, Borodyanka Resident)) “They shot my neighbor’s son dead, and she buried him in the yard under shelling…” ((NARRATION)) Residents of the apartment building show pieces of grenades they keep finding. But many have nothing to show — many people in Borodyanka were killed in the Russian shelling; for many, the basements of their own homes became deadly traps. ((Anna Kosstutschenko for VOA News from Borodyanka, Ukraine))
- Transcript/Script Ukraine Borodyanka Survivor – Kosstutschenko HEADLINE: 80-Year-Old Ukrainian Woman Confronts Russians, Rides Out Occupation in Apartment TEASER: Halyna Derevyanko had neither the strength nor the chance to flee to flee Borodyanka when the airstrikes began PUBLISHED AT: 7/15/2022 at 8:25am BYLINE: Anna Kosstutschenko CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Borodyanka, Kyiv Region, Ukraine VIDEOGRAPHER: Pavel Suhodolskiy VIDEO EDITOR: Pavel Suhodolskiy SCRIPT EDITORS: KE, Reifenrath VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Story Hunter PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __ TRT: 2:26 VID APPROVED BY: KE TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES:)) ((INTRO)) [[When Russian soldiers occupied Borodyanka in March, 80-year-old Halyna Derevyanko stayed in her apartment. Her neighbors had left, fleeing airstrikes, but she remained with her adult son in the five-story building because she had neither the strength nor the opportunity to leave the house. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story.]] ((NARRATION)) 80-year-old Halyna Derevyanko was in her apartment in Borodyanka, in the Kyiv region, when Russia invaded Ukraine. What she didn’t know then was that she would end up staying in this apartment throughout the Russian occupation in March. ((Halyna Derevyanko, Borodyanka Resident)) ((IN UKRAINIAN)) “There were only two of us in the whole building when Russians brоке in. They vandalized everything in the basement, and then there were two explosions, and my son's friend was blown up…” ((NARRATION)) As Russian soldiers tried to break the building entrance door, Derevyanko remembered her neighbor's advice: If occupiers are trying to force their entry, they can later punish residents for not helping them. So she decided it would be better to open the door herself. ((Halyna Derevyanko, Borodyanka Resident)) “I said, 'Here I am, in front of you, a gray-haired mother. Do with me what you want!'” ((NARRATION)) Russian soldiers didn’t believe Derevyanko when she told them the whole building was empty, and they started breaking doors to all the other apartments. After they searched the building, the occupiers wrote the letter P — for "provereno," or "checked" — on each apartment door, to indicate it had been inspected. They later returned to take what they wanted from the empty apartments, Derevyanko says. The apartment owners repaired the entrance door after Borodyanka was liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Derevyanko’s friend Valentina Myazova also returned to the town. She had stayed at a nearby village during the occupation, hoping things would be better there. ((Valentina Myazova, Borodyanka Resident)) “We thought it would be safer there. But it was hell. Russians came to us one day and told us they were looking for Nazis and Poles…” ((NARRATION)) After the Russians left, Myazova found her native town, Borodyanka, in ruins and many of her friends dead. ((Valentina Myazova, Borodyanka Resident)) “They shot my neighbor’s son dead, and she buried him in the yard under shelling…” ((NARRATION)) Residents of the apartment building show pieces of grenades they keep finding. But many have nothing to show — many people in Borodyanka were killed in the Russian shelling; for many, the basements of their own homes became deadly traps. ((Anna Kosstutschenko for VOA News from Borodyanka, Ukraine))
- NewsML Media Topics Conflict, War and Peace, Human Interest
- Topic Tags Survivor
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date July 15, 2022 16:15 EDT
- Description English When Russian soldiers occupied Borodyanka in March, 80-year-old Halyna Derevyanko stayed in her apartment. Her neighbors had left, fleeing airstrikes, but she remained with her adult son in the five-story building because she had neither the strength nor the opportunity to leave the house. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story.]]
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English