By James Mackenzie

HUSARIVKA (Ukraine) – Smashed tanks, destroyed buildings, and grieving families are signs of a captured east Ukrainian village whose inhabitants contemplate the cost they have to pay and those who occupied it.

After heavy fighting, the Russian invaders on February 24, Ukrainian troops retook Husarivka last month. It is an agricultural village of between 500 and 600 people.

Residents of surrounding areas have begun to recover from weeks of Russian occupation as Russian forces begin to withdraw after they failed to seize major cities such as Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Nadezhda, 79 years old, said that young soldiers went house to house asking for food.

The invading Russians claimed they were there as part of a training exercise, or to free Ukraine from bandits and Nazis. She added standing on a piece of ground next her house.

“Where can I see Nazis or bandits? “We are peaceful, normal people. “Ukrainians,” she stated.

Two smashed Russian antiaircraft guns carriers, and an armoured personnel carrier, are left abandoned on the fields just above the village. They’re surrounded by debris, including computer printers, gas masks, and shoes.

A rusted Russian tank is found in the village, with its damaged turret on its side.

One Ukrainian soldier claimed that fighting continued for about three weeks, with his side using antitank weapons such as artillery and Javelin missiles. Finally, he drove out two Russian combat units.

The soldier said that he had beaten the enemy’s right and left flanks, gotten into positions of strength and destroyed their equipment. He spoke on condition that he only be known as Parker.

According to him, his team had taken a Russian officer as well as two scouts belonging to an engineering group that had been trying to set up mines to protect the village from the Ukrainian invasion. They had to defeat counter-attacks by Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups.

He stated, “Three times they tried to get in,”

BURNED BODIES

While it was difficult to independently confirm the account, at least twelve destroyed armoured vehicle, including some tanks marked with “Z”, were found in the village.

According to Ukrainian officials, their forces have destroyed nearly 20,000 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers and killed close to 20,000 Russian soldiers since the invasion began. Others estimates may be lower, but Western officials believe that the number of Russians killed is in the hundreds.

Ukraine claims that Russian troops have killed hundreds of civilians in Ukraine. Although Russia denies targeting civilians, Husarivka residents claim that several people from the area were murdered or disappeared.

The bodies of three people, all of which were burned to ashes, were recovered from the cellar in one house. They claimed that they would be investigating possible signs of torture.

Husarivka is one of the accounts for a number of eastern Ukrainian villages. This includes a predominantly Russian-speaking town near the northeast border of Ukraine, that was attacked by the army of President Vladimir Putin from the beginning of war.

Russia, though no longer threat to invade the city has maintained a partial blocking of it and continued to bombard it with heavy bombing for several days.

Kharkiv residents and infrastructure were also hit. This has resulted in dozens of deaths and more than 60 rocket and artillery attacks within one night. Reuters reporters heard mortar shells hitting northern regions of the city on Friday.