In his home near Ukraine's front line with Russia, Yurii makes a stand
In Dolyna, a village that was destroyed by the Russians after the war began, Yurii maintains a lonely vigil. There were once 500 residents living here - until the Russians came. Now there are only a handful. "I'm not afraid," says Yurii. "I'm in my home."
Filed June 27, 2024, 9 a.m. GMT
In Dolyna, there used to be 500 residents. Today, there are only a handful.
The picturesque village, near the border of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, was one of many in the area that became fierce battlegrounds in the spring and summer of 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Almost all of the residents fled.
In a jubilant period in the fall of that year, Ukrainian forces pushed back Russian troops and retook the village just north of Sloviansk.
Yurii, who taught woodworking at the local school, is one of the few residents who have since returned. He and his wife moved to Dolyna 30 years ago when she was transferred to the village as a teacher. Here they had three children, built a home, and made a life together.
Initially, the 68-year-old did not believe Russian troops would invade.
“Brotherly country, all that,” he said, recounting how he believed before 2014 that Russia and Ukraine were friends and noting all of the acquaintances he used to have in Russia. Russian-backed separatists staged a battle to control the Donetsk and Luhansk regions a decade ago.
But now, Yurii says, the Russians “see how everything is fine in our country, how everything in our country is improving, and they want to destroy it.”
More: