Ukrainian authorities claim that thousands of people were forcibly taken to Russia and Belarus. “To date, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been forcibly deported to the aggressor country. According to the National Information Bureau, more than 5,600 children forcibly deported to Russia have already been identified. The real number is higher,” the statement said. Deputy Interior Minister Kateryna Pavlichenko. she said.

In March, several dozen Ukrainians were flown into Belarus from temporarily occupied Ivankov and Gostomel. Galina Ganulich, who happened to be among them, calls it “voluntary-compulsory evacuation.” Volodymyr Khropun Ukrainian volunteer was taken prisoner in March, he was taken to the Russian pre-trial detention center through Belarus. They shared their stories with DW.

“They said the city would be razed”

Galina Ganulich lived in a military town near Gostomel (Kyiv region). According to a 63-year-old woman, the majority of her population are retired military families. They started bombing the neighborhood on the first day of the war, so the Kadyrovites occupied the city. Ganulich spent three weeks in the basement.

“Many townspeople stayed. I have four cats, one dog, I couldn’t. Besides, this is my land, my home – where should I run?” says Galina. Doors are being kicked down in our apartments. in the morning they came to us, registered us, took our phones. They said the elderly were “not offended.” They didn’t drink, they didn’t smoke, they really treated us loyally.”

Soon Galina’s house caught fire, people had to move into the basement of a neighboring hostel. There, for lack of medicine, a friend of our interlocutor died. A few weeks after the start of the war, says Galina, the “Kadyrovtsy” were replaced by “Russians”. Galina adds that four elderly women died during the occupation, a young man with mental illness was killed, four local men were arrested, one of them was returned. At that time, the city was bombed almost constantly.

“You could go out, stay five minutes near the basement and then run back. The Russians said they would level the city with the ground, that there would not be a single house here.”, – recalls Galina Ganulich.

Voluntary-compulsory evacuation

She agreed to leave for Belarus, but, according to her, it was a voluntary-compulsory evacuation: “If there was an opportunity to go to the Ukrainian side, everyone would be happy to do it. I would not go to Belarus, I was afraid that they wouldn’t let us out of there”.

The woman remembers that they were taken to the border, then transported across the river. Which settlement they ended up in, Galina doesn’t know.

“There were tents there. We were dropped off, our documents were checked, one of the Belarusian soldiers photographed our passports for some reason. In this situation, a person becomes very dependent, he doesn’t decide anything”, observes the refugee. I’m alive.”

The Ukrainians, according to Galina, were received by representatives of the Belarusian Red Cross, the refugees were accommodated in the Chenki sanatorium in the Gomel region.

“Conditions were good. Three meals a day, a bath in the room, but most importantly, there were no explosions. I think Belarusians are very friendly to Ukrainians, they brought things, food, animal feed,” the woman says. “We were offered to stay in Belarus, work in the fields. It was said that maybe Poland would close the border.”

But Galina decided to leave: first – to Poland and then – to her daughter in Brazil.

A Ukrainian volunteer was kept in a hangar in Narovlya

Volodymyr Khropun, a Red Cross volunteer, was detained by the Russian military on March 19 near Kyiv. “We took people to safe places. I was detained at one of the checkpoints because I told the Russians the truth about what they were doing. They probably didn’t like it,” recalls Vladimir.

For six days he was thrown in a windowless basement. According to him, prisoners slept on the concrete floor, were beaten and humiliated, and were given food once a day. Then Vladimir was transferred to Gostomel, from there to Belarus. According to the volunteer, he ended up in Narovlya, Gomel region.

“There was a big airfield, lots of helicopters. We were installed in a hangar or in some kind of collective farm shed, they took about 30 to 40 people”, recalls Vladimir. “Sun loungers are installed in the room. They were taken there after lunch, but in the evening they started writing (they issued “identity cards” on which it was written that the prisoners “opposed a special military operation”. Ed.). I spent less than a day in Belarus and from there I was transferred to Russia, to Novozybkov, Bryansk region.”

Until April 7, the volunteer remained in a Russian pre-trial detention center, where prisoners were tortured and beaten, then he was transferred to Crimea, where a few days later an exchange of prisoners of war took place, several civilians, including Vladimir , were released, as he calls it, “bonus”.

In Russian captivity, Khropun met a Russian with a residence permit in Moscow and a Belarusian. “They were from Irpin or Bucha, we were united in Narovlya. They were not released, what happened to him afterwards, I don’t know”, says Vladimir.