| 2022 Borodianka strikes | |
|---|---|
| Part of theKyiv offensive during theRussian invasion of Ukraine | |
 A building in Borodianka destroyed by Russian bombing | |
 Interactive map of 2022 Borodianka strikes | |
| Location | Borodianka |
| Date | 1–2 March 2022;3 year ago |
| Deaths | 40 (Amnesty International)[1] to 80 (Ukrainian government)[2] |
| Perpetrators | Russian Armed Forces |
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The town ofBorodianka was bombed extensively by theRussian Armed Forces during theRussian invasion of Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported the town's devastation on 7 April 2022, a week after theBucha massacre was discovered. 41 bodies had been found under the rubble according to theState Emergency Service of Ukraine.[3] In addition, as of 6 May[update], local police reports finding of more than 300 bodies in burials made by locals during Russian occupation.[4]
Before theRussian invasion of Ukraine,Borodianka, a quiet "one-street town"[5] to the north ofKyiv, had roughly 13,000 residents.[6]
As Russian forcesfought in and near Kyiv, Borodianka, which is on a strategically important road,[5] was targeted by numerous Russian airstrikes.[7] The deadliest bombing was conducted in the evening of 1 March and the morning of 2 March, when Russian aviation destroyed 8 multi-storey residential buildings, killing at least 40 civilians.[8]
According toIryna Venediktova,prosecutor general of Ukraine, and Prosecutor office of Kyiv Oblast, Russian army used air-dropped bombsFAB-250 and multiple rocket launchersSmerch andUragan.[9][10][11] Characteristic damages caused bycluster munitions were found in the town.[9] According to Venediktova, Russian soldiers fired "at night, when the maximum number of people would be at home".[10] Most of the buildings in the town were destroyed,[12] including almost all of its main street.[13] Russian bombs struck the centers of buildings and caused them to collapse while the frames remained standing.[12][13]Oleksiy Reznikov,minister of defense, said many residents wereburied alive by airstrikes and lay dying for up to a week. He further said that those who had gone to help them were shot at by Russian soldiers.[14]
Venediktova also accused the Russian soldiers of "murders, tortures, and beatings" of civilians.[6][15]
Some residents hid in caves for 38 days.[7] On 26 March 2022, Russia, repelled from Kyiv, progressively withdrew from the region to concentrate onDonbas.[16] Borodianka's mayor said that as the Russian convoy had moved through the town, Russian soldiers had fired through every open window. He estimated at least 200 dead.[17]
Only a few hundred residents remained in Borodianka by the time the Russians withdrew, with roughly 90% of residents having fled,[13] and an unknown number dead in the rubble.[7] The retreating Russian troops placedmines throughout the town.[13]
On 2 May 2022, employees of the State Emergency Service rescued a cat from the seventh floor of a destroyed building, which spent about two months there without food or water and became a symbol of the indomitability of the Ukrainian people in the fight against the Russian occupiers.[18]
Agence France-Presse arrived in Borodianka on 5 April. The AFP did not see any bodies, but reported widespread destruction, and that some homes "simply no longer existed". The human death toll remained unclear: one resident reported that he knew of at least five civilians killed, but that others were beneath the rubble and that no one had yet attempted to extricate them.[19][16]
On 7 April, Venediktova announced that an initial 26 bodies had been discovered in the rubble of two destroyed buildings.[20] She stated that Borodianka was "the most destroyed town in the area" and that "only the civilian population was targeted; there are no military sites."[11][6] PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky subsequently said that the death toll at Borodianka was "even worse" thanat Bucha.[20][21][22]
According toEurope 1, ten days after the Russian army had left, firefighters were still working to recover bodies from the rubble in order to bury them with dignity. Their work was complicated by the risk of other buildings collapsing. More bodies were discovered daily. Localmorgues were overwhelmed, and corpses had to be transported 100 kilometres or more.[7]
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Few buildings remain standing in Borodianka, the ones that do have burn marks running up their walls.
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50°38′38″N29°56′02″E / 50.64389°N 29.93389°E /50.64389; 29.93389
