Survived under fire: Larysa from Bucha went through an uphill tank battle and met invaders twice

A picture of one of the streets in Bucha City with more than a dozen russian tanks, which were burned, had spread all over the Internet. These pictures show how the column of russian military hardware was standing in a common residential area between two rows of private houses. Many people have left the city, although some chose to stay. 

Rubryka visited Bucha and talked to 72-year-old Larysa Savenko, she has memorized the events of February 27 for her entire lifetime, as well as the dialogues with the russian occupiers.

The ground trembled 

A column of russian tanks moved along Vokzalna Street towards Irpin and Kyiv. On that day, February 27, at the very beginning of russia's full-scale invasion, Larysa felt the earth trembling from a large amount of machinery. It has been localized along with sheds by occupying forces.

Later, when they realized that they would not be able to cross the river since the Ukrainian military had blown up the bridge, the occupiers deployed equipment.

In the meantime, two russian militaries entered Larysa's yard. She, in turn, was hiding in the cellar with her son and a homeless man, whom she helped with housing and food.

"Then I came out of the cellar to make some coffee at least. And two russian soldiers were walking toward me. I told them: guys, no one is here. And they replied: what are you doing here? get out of here, there will be a fight… The main thing for me was to hide boys properly, in order to keep them unseen. I didn't know how they would treat them, maybe they would shoot…" Larysa says.

On the same day, the equipment of the russian invaders was shot by the Armed Forces. The woman assumes that for this purpose, Bayraktars were used.

"The whole street was on fire," Larysa says.

"If others came, they would have shot right off at feet"

After that russians gathered the corpses, and the second wave of battle began.

"I was sitting on the porch, reading, and I saw rockets flying in one direction and the other," Larysa Savenko recalls.

And on the 5th of March, the aggressors came back to her. This time they broke into the house.

"Five russian militaries came to us. The boys were around 19 years old, and the commander was approximately 30. They had come to our house, looked at me, and said: you live humbly. I've replied: we are rich in livestock. We have five cats and two dogs. But we really had nothing to steal from us. However, they took everything they could from other houses on the street. And we were told: 'You are lucky that we came to you. Others shoot right off at feet,'" Larysa said.

Then the occupiers set up their infantry fighting vehicles behind her house and had been firing for two days, hiding behind civilians. Mrs. Larysa, together with her son and the man she helped, stayed in the barn for two days without leaving it.

"We couldn't go out even for a minute, we were under attack all the time. We stayed inside for two days. It was cold, of course, 5 degrees, but we endured it all," the woman said with tears in her eyes.

"There is only one question: For what?"

All these days Larysa didn't dare to go outside her yard. And only a month after those events, she went out to look at the consequences and was horrified: a significant amount of destroyed yards, broken and looted neighbors' houses.

Mrs. Larysa's house was also damaged: two rooms were destroyed, and a missile landed on the roof but did not explode; it was then removed by rescuers.

"I want to say one thing: no doubt that we will win, we will endure everything. It is impossible to defeat Ukraine. I have only one question for these russians: For what? Why do you hate Ukraine so much? Because we do not want to be the flock of sheep, like you?" Mrs. Larysa told the invaders.

Finally, the woman added that she considers herself a lucky person and that she had miraculously managed to survive both the shelling and meeting with the invaders. Because, as the woman says, many other citizens wouldn't have survived this meeting…

Rubryka's photo report from Bucha: