Ukrainian village Moschun 'forgotten' after days of death, destruction

In the Ukrainian village of Moschun, the ravages of war are clear for all to see.

Yet, its residents feel their suffering has somehow escaped the world’s attention, their small town ignored and its losses deemed inconsequential.

Located some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from capital Kyiv, Moschun was in the path of Russian forces that entered Ukraine from Belarus and bore down on the capital in the early days of the ongoing war.

The village quickly fell to the Russians, who obliterated it with incessant bombardment, leaving 80% of all of its houses either damaged or completely wrecked.

Valentin, a resident who gave only his first name, told Anadolu Agency that Russian troops killed “many civilians … some of them for no reason.”

Moschun was eventually reclaimed by the Ukrainian military, but not before intense clashes with the Russians compounded the death and destruction.

“Dead bodies lay out in the open for weeks … everyone, ambulances, the police were busy (in other places),” according to another resident who went by the first name Andrey.

Irina Yablunovska is among the volunteers making regular visits to Moschun, helping its people piece together their shattered lives.

“When I first came to this village, there was utter chaos … It was like a scary scene from a movie. I couldn’t sleep for days after that visit. I just cried,” she said.

“There has been a lot of attention on Bucha and Irpin, but this village was forgotten. Everyone needs to know about Moschun. Almost all of the houses here have been bombed, it’s unimaginable how these people are living.”

While exact figures for Moschun have never come to light, the UN estimates that at least 2,899 civilians have been killed and 3,235 injured across Ukraine since the war began on Feb. 24, with the actual numbers feared to be much higher.

As the conflict rages on, more than 5.3 million have been forced to flee to other countries, while some 7.7 million people are internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.