The Washington Post - USA (2022-03-07)

A6 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, MARCH 7 , 2022

war in ukraine

BY SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN

markhalivka, ukraine — Ihor
Mozhayev walked unsteadily
atop the rubble of his destroyed
house, a dazed look on his bruised
face. In his path were the rem-
nants of what was left of his life.
A red Christmas decoration, a
dust-covered leopard-print pil-
low, notebooks with neat hand-
writing, a school bookbag and
pieces of toys were among dozens
of shattered memories. Scattered
in the debris were family photos
of loved ones now forever lost.
Mozhayev, 54, his right cheek
purplish and swollen, picked up a
small plastic chair stained with
blood. “That’s her chair,” he said
in a low voice that faded into the
hum of a bulldozer nearby. “Dur-
ing the day she was always sitting
up in this chair.”
The chair belonged to his 12-
year-old disabled daughter,
Masha. She was killed with her
mother, grandmother, and three
other civilians in a suspected Rus-
sian airstrike on Friday in this
speck of a village roughly six
miles southwest of the capital,
Kyiv. Two of Mozhayev’s grand-
children, ages 7 and 8, were pulled
from the rubble, miraculously
alive.
On Saturday, as Mozhayev sur-
veyed the wreckage, a slim man
dressed in camouflage green with
a Ukrainian military identifica-
tion card around his neck filmed
his every move. He was gathering
evidence for a potential case
against Moscow before an inter-
national tribunal.
As Russian forces encircle
Ukrainian cities and widen as-
saults to once calm areas, the six
villagers killed entered the grim
— and growing — registry of
civilian deaths compiled by the
United Nations since the invasion
began 11 days ago. As of midnight
Saturday, the U.N. had recorded
364 civilian deaths, including 25
children, and 707 wounded.
Among the wounded were 36
children. Heavy artillery, multi-
ple rocket l aunchers, missiles and
airstrikes caused most of the
deaths, the U.N. said over the
weekend, adding that the toll is
probably higher.

The rising number of civilian

casualties has prompted accusa-

tions that Moscow has committed

war crimes in its relentless bom-

bardment of nonmilitary targets

in cities, as well as its alleged use

of weapons that heighten the risk

of death and injury for noncom-

batants.

In pursuit of evidence,

Ukraine’s government has

opened a new front in the conflict,

dispatching visual teams to

bombed sites to make a case

against Russia at the Internation-

al Criminal Court at The Hague.

“The Ukrainians are mobilized

as never before,” said Serhiy Ly-

senko, the military videographer

who was filming in the rubble.

“This is more about making a

record of Russia’s crimes. We do

believe in The Hague.”

“We’ve seen very credible re-

ports of delivered attacks on civil-

ians which would constitute a

war crime,” U.S. Secretary of State

Antony Blinken said Sunday on

CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Human Rights Watch has ac-

cused Russia of using interna-

tionally banned cluster muni-

tions to bomb residential areas

and kill civilians in Kharkiv,

Ukraine’s second largest city.

Such weapons open in the air,

dispersing hundreds of small sub-

munitions over a large area that

can kill or maim indiscriminately

and “might constitute a war

crime,” the watchdog group said.

Russian President Vladimir

Putin, in a phone conversation

with French President Emmanuel

Macron, said Russia’s forces were

doing all they can “to preserve the

lives of civilians” in Ukraine, ac-

cording to a Kremlin readout on

Thursday.

Last week, the ICC announced

that it will “immediately proceed”

to investigate possible war crimes

unfolding in Ukraine. And on

Friday, NATO Secretary General

Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the

decision, saying “we have seen the

use of cluster bombs,” as well as

reports of other types of weapons

used that “are in violation of

international law.”

The airstrike, and the family

tragedy it bore, is one piece of

possible evidence that many in

this devastated village hope will

help hold Russia accountable.

With 11 people living in Ihor

Mozhayev’s house, it was unusu-

ally full when it was hit.

Among the occupants were a

daughter and her family who had

fled their apartment in Kyiv the

day of the invasion. A niece and

her boyfriend, as well as a family

friend, were also staying there.

“We thought we would be safe

from the war here,” said Dasha

Kormilenko, Mozhayev’s daugh-

ter, standing in the debris of wood

and bricks next to her father.

Earlier on Friday, her mother,

grandmother, husband and the

family friend drove out in their

car to stock up on food and other

supplies. About 3 p.m. they were

pulling up in front of their spa-

cious house on a quiet street lined

with other houses. Mozhayev was

resting on a couch in the living

room.

That’s when the airstrike hit.

“There was a loud noise and

then an explosion,” he recalled. “I

woke up buried under the rub-

ble.”

He managed to reach his

phone. Neighbors arrived and be-

gan to dig through the rubble,

following his shouts for help. Five

minutes later, they pulled him

out, as well as his two grandchil-

dren, Sasha and Losha, the chil-

dren of Dasha.

Mozhayev, his chest squeezed

between the toppled bricks, had

difficulty breathing. “I was in a

state of shock,” he said. “They

took me to a hospital.”

Four hours later, his friends

reluctantly gave him the tragic

news.

His wife, Anna, and the others

had died inside the car, which

exploded into flames. Masha, who

couldn’t walk because a drunk

driver hit her eight years ago, was

also dead. So was the boyfriend of

Mozhayev’s niece.

Dasha and his niece were fortu-

nate in not being there. They had

both gone to Kyiv to collect some

more possessions from Dasha’s

apartment. Many of the neigh-

bors, too, were fortunate. While

the strike obliterated at least five

houses and damaged several oth-

ers, only one woman among the

neighbors was hurt, a woman

whose arm was fractured.

His other neighbors, said Mo-

zhayev, had already fled. Many

were by then in the western city of

Lviv. “Some 30 percent of people

in the village seems to have left,”

he said.

On Saturday morning, Mykola

Medynsky arrived at the site of

the attack. The tall and burly

Ukrainian military chaplain

clutched a wooden cross and

wore a long, camouflage-green

cleric’s robe and a gold embroi-

dered vestment. He was accom-

panied by Lysenko, the military

videographer.

Since the invasion began, the

pair have comforted hundreds of

civilians trapped by war in the

capital. “We go down to the base-

ments where people are hiding,”

said Medynsky. “If we feel that

people have anxiety, we start to

work with them gently, with

prayers, psychological work, mor-

al support.”

They have visited five sites

where Russian rockets or missiles

have hit residential buildings or

areas like Markhalivka where

there are no government build-

ings, army bases or other military

targets. They said this was the

deadliest attack yet in and around

the capital. “In Kyiv no one was

killed, but here six people died,

and the destruction was huge,”

Medynsky said.

There was another reason he

was here with a cameraman, he

said.

“I came here to help people, but

at the same time, I want our press

service to show this footage to the

world as yet another proof of

Russia’s crimes, crimes against

peaceful civilians.”

War crimes, under internation-

al law, include the targeting of

civilians, as well as assaults that

cause disproportionate civilian

casualties given the military ob-

jective. This includes attacks on

hospitals, clinics, schools, and

other key civilian sites, as well as

attacking or bombarding towns,

villages or dwellings that are un-

defended and which are not mili-

tary objectives.

Still, many horrific acts of vio-

lence that result in the deaths of

noncombatants would not meet

the criteria. And in most cases,

proving that civilian killings con-

stitutes a war crime is extremely

difficult, requiring lawyers to

show the attacker intentionally

sought to harm civilians or strike

forbidden targets.

No one here understands why

the village was targeted. Ukraini-

an forces manning a checkpoint

into the village said there was a

small military unit nearby, Lysen-

ko said. But there was also specu-

lation, he added, that the Russian

jet was hit by Ukraine’s a ir defens-

es and jettisoned its bombs to

reach safety. But Lysenko rejects

this argument.

“He fired at t he residential area

just out of spite,” he said, referring

to the Russian pilot. “If he simply

wanted to get rid of the muni-

tions, he would have fired them

into the woods or fields nearby.”

Minutes later, Medynsky stood

atop a pile of debris and gathered

Mozhayev, his family and neigh-

bors together. Then, he delivered

a melodic sermon that lasted

three minutes.

“A true Ukrainian people is

being born, a true Ukrainian na-

tion, a people that no one will ever

be able to divide,” he told the

gathering. “A nd your family per-

ished, having made a sacrifice, so

that you and future generations

would live. ... Let us, all together,

pray for those who perished for

Ukraine.”

As he finished, tears were slid-

ing down Dasha’s face.

Afterward, the family returned

to the rubble.

With their hands, they dug.

They were looking for deeds of

apartments they owned in Kyiv,

their children’s birth certificates,

their passports, even a large bag

of money they had placed in a

bedroom, said Dasha, who is in

her 20s.

Her father’s h ouse was once the

safest place to store their valu-

ables. Now, these are the items

they needed most to leave the

village, perhaps even the country.

Their neighbors have offered

rooms in their homes, but the

family understands they can’t

stay there forever.

As h e sifted through the debris,

Mozhayev found a black and

white tattered photo of his wife

Anna as a girl in ponytails. “She

was younger than me by eight

years,” he said, eyes on the photo.

“She went to buy flour to bake

bread,” said her husband, his

voice fading. “She was in line for

an hour and a half,” came home

and pulled up in the car just as the

bomb fell.

Volodymyr Petrov in Markhalivka and

Claire Parker in Washington

contributed to this report.

Amid rubble, Ukrainian teams hunt for evidence for possible war crimes

SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN/THE WASHINGTON POST

Scattered in t he debris of a destroyed house in Markhalivka,

Ukraine, are family photos and other items.

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