Ukraine: Borodyanka, a small town that has become the symbol of Russian destruction

Borodyanka, northwest of kyiv, April 6, 2022. AFP - GENYA SAVILOV

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2 mins

Ukraine takes the measure, day after day, of the extent of the destruction and the human tragedy, after the withdrawals of the Russian army.

In Boutcha, the official toll now exceeds 300 dead, and the mayor of the nearby town of Hostomel has announced that 400 of his constituents are missing.

A little further, in Borodyanka, 40 kilometers northwest of kyiv, clearing work has begun.

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With our correspondent in Kiev,

It is a small town, which could prove to be the most affected in the entire region.

Borodyanka, 13,000 inhabitants before the war, was massively bombarded by airstrikes, from the first hours of the conflict.

The city was on the main road linking kyiv to Poland, but also very close to Belarus, on the way of this famous 70 km armored column which was heading towards kyiv.

Ukrainian forces halted the enemy advance there, but Russian forces occupied the town for a month, causing a degree of destruction rarely seen elsewhere.

Buildings of five or nine floors collapsed like houses of cards, blown up by the missiles, while the thousand inhabitants who remained in Borodyanka took refuge in the cellars.

#Borodyanka, north-west of #Kyiv, destroyed by airstrikes.

06.04.2022 pic.twitter.com/KwgDhBRhB7

— Stephane Siohan (@stefsiohan) April 6, 2022

Visibly, more than half of the buildings in the center are affected and the authorities fear that dozens of bodies are buried under the rubble.

According to several testimonies, abuses were committed for a month against civilians, while Russian soldiers were looking for relatives of Ukrainian soldiers or those with a link, “ 

 ”.

Tara's Shevchenko, shot in the head by a Chechen fighter on #Borodyanka main square.

06.04.2022 pic.twitter.com/lLHWMyUVu7

— Stephane Siohan (@stefsiohan) April 6, 2022

In Borodyanka, we do not see the same scenes as in Boutcha, these corpses in the streets, but in kyiv we fear that the human toll is even more serious.

►Read also: At the Zaporizhia hospital, every day new wounded from the front

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has announced that her country's prosecutor's office has opened investigations into 5,000 cases of alleged war crimes in Ukraine committed by Russian forces since the start of the war.

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