Ukrainians living in territory vacated by Russian forces are counting the cost of occupation
Galina Muzyra moved around her front garden as she cleaned up the mess left by occupying Russian soldiers. “They parked two armoured vehicles on my lawn,” she said, pointing to a flattened blue fence next to her neat vegetable patch. Nearby, amid blackcurrant bushes, was a large crater. Her yellow-painted dacha was perforated with holes.
Shrapnel had wrecked the wooden summer house too. It was a birthday gift from her late husband Nikolai, Muzyra explained. “We don’t understand why the Russians did this. We are a small quiet country. If it wasn’t for our president I don’t know what we would do,” she added, throwing splintered branches and other rubbish on to a spring bonfire.
