A young Ukrainian woman denounced that “Russian soldiers are raping women and shooting people in basements” in Irpin

A young Ukrainian woman who fled the city of Irpin, located near Kiev and occupied by Russian troops since the first days of the invasion, reported on Tuesday that Russian soldiers are raping women and murdering civilians seeking refuge underground.

“Irpin is hell. There are many Russian soldiers who just shoot people who enter private homes and, at best, only throw people out of their homes. They rape women and just throw away the dead. They open the basements where people hide and shoot them,” said Anastasia Taran, 30, in a EuroMaidanPress report.

In Irpin, citizens could not escape the invasion, on foot, until March 5, as all the bridges connecting the city with the Kiev area were destroyed. “Our checkpoint is in front of the bridge, we have to be very careful there because the occupants shoot. We were under fire from mortars, the explosions were 50-100 meters away from us. We must listen carefully to the instructions of our soldiers: if they shout “heaven”, it means that you have to hide, if they shout “run”, it means that you have to flee to the next shelter,” said Anastasia, who worked as a waitress and now writes on Instagram tips on how to get out of town.

Anastasia also explained that, together with her husband, she spent a week without Internet access, electricity, heating or water in Irpin. “In our house there lived a boy from Lugansk who had already lived it. He gathered all the remaining neighbors and said that the situation would only worsen. He argued that it was the right time to leave. We pack things at our own risk. Everyone took what they could. We only had our papers and cats.”

The young woman recalled that none of the neighbors knew what the situation was in the surroundings and where the checkpoints were, but they took risks and left the area. They were lucky because many citizens couldn't get out.

Now she, her husband and their three cats are in Lviv, the largest city near Poland. “I feel calmer, but I'm still anxious. I am afraid of silence because something bad is constantly expected of it. I'm still afraid to go outside: I'm always looking for refuge.” And he acknowledged that his greatest fear is that he will not be able to return home.

Irpin was a wealthy suburb of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, but most of its inhabitants have fled Russian bombings and is now a ghost town. The streets are full of debris, as a result of the Grad missiles that burst both high-rise apartment buildings and modest wooden and brick bungalows.

With information from AFP

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