By Anonymous
WARNING: SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND SOME OF THE IMAGES INCLUDED BELOW DISTRESSING
Dovhen'ke was occupied by the Russians some time around June 11, 2022. The village was taken back by the Ukrainian army sometime in August. The entire village and the fields surrounding it were mined. Most of the area, excluding occupied farmhouses, remain mined to this day. Unexploded ordinances can be seen scattered throughout the village. Some rockets remain stuck in the ground where they landed. Many large craters dot the area, with the largest being from a munitions warehouse. It housed ammonium nitrate and caused a massive explosion and crater. Locals warned us that some journalists were reported to have stepped on mines around this area.
My first visit to the village was out of necessity. I and others were on our way to the front, to assist a brigade. Due to the frontline situation, housing in the brigade's area was in high demand. As a result, housing was not immediately available to us. We settled on staying temporarily in the destroyed village of Dovhen'ke.
Our accommodation here was primitive. We stayed in one of the abandoned bombed houses, which had been occupied by both Ukrainian and Russian forces. Although the house had been bombed and the roof caved in, the inside of the house and the outhouse had been partially reconstructed using plywood. The house had not been de-mined. There was no power or running water in the village. Cell service was sparse. To obtain even some cell service, we had to reach an elevated point, such as a rooftop. This would work about 25% of the time. Soldiers had scrawled messages and contact information on the interior walls of the house. Russian markings had been spraypainted over. The house was equipped with a single bed, dirty dishes, a few old hygiene items, and an outdoor shower with buckets of water. I was met with a surprise when I climbed up to the attic in an attempt to obtain cell service. Here I came upon a pile of what appeared to be dog's legs. There were no bodies, only this collection of legs, half buried under moldy straw. After the liberation of other areas, it was learned that the Russians had killed dogs for food or pleasure. That may have happened here.
We took some time to survey the ruins of war. The cemetary was completely destroyed. Monuments to soviet veterans lay in ruins among shattered tombstones. A statue's head had been completely blown off. Pieces of the shattered face lay among the graves. We were approached by a local, who was clearly intoxicated. He had only recently returned to the village, and gave us a brief history of his personal experience. He had waited until the last possible minute to flee the Russians in 2022. The battle was already going on outside, when he finally decided to flee. "They were shooting right where the living area was.They were shooting at the living area. Right on the road, in the fields.They were going on the road, in the houses.And the houses, I don't know if they were Muscovites or ours. I'll tell you right now. I was the last one to go from the house where they were shooting", he stated.
The local school building remained standing, although it had been bombed multiples times. The interior was completely trashed. School books, papers, Russian items and clothing covered the entirety of the first floor. A piano remained structurally intact, although it was not playable due to damage. Children's paintings decorated the walls and stairwell. A stove made of bricks had been built in the hallway; another in a front room. Bongs littered about suggest the Russians had been getting high during their stay. The gym roof was completely caved in. Only a single basketball hoop survived intact; a reminder that this was indeed once a school gym where children played.
The theater was spared much of the structural damage that was evident to other buildings. Outside a simple memorial was erected, to honor 3 Ukrainian fighters of the 95th brigade who lost their lives defending the village. Ammunition boxes filled with sand were stacked to form barricades. Empty shell casings, artillery and bullet holes revealed a heavy battle was fought there. Medical debris and bedding were scattered in the basement, which suggested the place was used as a field hospital.
Further down the road, we met several farmers. They greeted us with their simple hospitality, offering fresh milk and honey. They were having major issues with their water pumps. Neither were working and they desperately needed a new one, as without this they had no running water. The farmer's wife suffered from chronic hypertension and pleaded with us to bring her a blood pressure cuff. Later, with the help of an NGO, they received a new water pump. I took it upon myself to give her a blood pressure cuff from my own medical bag. They told us that a local farmer had recently been de-mining his fields with his own rudimentary equipment. He had hit a mine and both of his legs were blown off. He died due to lack of tourniquets and immediate treatment. The other farmers we met were also engaging in their own demining activities. For them, the farmland is their very livelihood. The mines are merely an obstacle. They asked us to bring them metal detectors. We had no such detectors, but later we returned. We distributed IFAKs and gave them a demonstration on tourniquet application and wound packing.
The farmers needed cow feed immediately. The fields were unsafe. Cows had been chained up to prevent them from roaming through the mines. Beside the road, we noted the bones of an unlucky cow who had come in contact with one such mine. The living cows were not getting enough to eat, from being chained in one spot all day. Thus, we pooled our own money and bought them large sacks of cow feed from the nearest viable town. The farmers were extremely grateful. They introduced us to their other animals - pigs, ducks, chickens, many dogs, cats, and one blind dog. We discovered several abandoned cats in another area. One particular cat followed us, after hearing human voices. This cat would not leave, so we took him back to our humble lodgings. He had a dinner of canned fish, bread, and water, the same as us.
In Doven'ke, there are many large craters caused by artillery. Some can be seen from the road. The largest one was caused by a munitions warehouse, which also housed ammonium nitrate. This area had not been de-mined, and locals reported that some journalists stepped on mines there. The blast and shockwave from this explosion was so large, it burned trees very far from the site. Many vehicles and people were obliterated. Here we found uniforms stained with blood. Boots, exploded mines, munition boxes, and metals lay strewn all around this huge crater.
Some months later, I returned and took the cat with me. I had left food with the farmers to feed it. At first I didn't find it, because it was sick and hiding in a barn. This cat is now in Europe living with a foster family. The other two abandoned cats made their way to the farmers, and I left sacks of food for them there.
Upon my most recent return, I learned that all of the pigs had been killed The farmers unable to continue feeding them and they were asking if we knew of anyone who would buy pork. They also stated that they no longer had the IFAKs in their possession. It was understood that they used them to barter for something more needed; possibly medications. However, there was some good news. Their new water pump was working, and electricity had been partially restored. Most people had still not returned, though. One farmer was picked up by the mobilization police; forced into military service at a blockpost. The demining team had left. The farmers stated that they felt like they had "done nothing", meaning, they had de-mined small areas around the roads, and not much else. The demining process is slow and the farmers are restless. "Come spring, I will begin the de-mining myself", one farmer stated. He once again asked for metal detectors.
Doven'ke remains a devastated, isolated village. Not much has improved here since the liberation in 2022. Most houses are still empty; the land mined, uninhabitable. The remaining farmers continue to live resiliently, on the hopes that they can return to the fields and harvest a successful crop.
