74. Mass captivity in school basement
Yahidne (Chernihiv)
Featured in Time via The Reckoning Project:
“Inside the Basement Where an Entire Ukrainian Village Spent a Harrowing Month in Captivity”
LOCATION: Yahidne, Chernihiv
DATE: February-March 2022
NUMBER OF WITNESSES: 7
SUMMARY: Nearly 370 civilians—including infants, children, and seniors—spent an entire month in captivity in the basement of a school in Yahidne, Chernihiv. Russian troops set up a military compound on the top floors of the school. Poor conditions under captivity resulted in the death of over a dozen civilians. A few other men in nearby villages were also killed.
WITNESSES
The Witnesses of the incident were male and female civilians from Yahidne and Slavutych. This included retirees, village council members, school employees, and an agronomist.
VICTIMS
367 people, including children, infants, and seniors, who were forcibly held in the basement of a school in the village of Yahidne (the Russian military used the school as their headquarters). 10 people died in the basement due to the conditions they were kept in. The names of the deceased victims were scribbled on the basement walls by other detainees.
ALLEGED PERPETRATORS
as described by the Witness(es)
The perpetrators were members of the Russian military who varied in rank and were aged between their early 30s to mid 40s. The soldiers appeared to be Slavic and Asian. They arrived in vehicles marked with an “O.”
