By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin By — Volodymyr Solohub Volodymyr Solohub By — Teresa Cebrián Aranda Teresa Cebrián Aranda Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/people-in-liberated-ukrainian-town-recount-harrowing-stories-of-russian-occupation Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio Ukrainian troops are working to consolidate gains in the country’s east. With Russian soldiers gone, newly liberated Kharkiv residents are coming to terms with what they endured. Nick Schifrin visited a small town north of Kharkiv which is now in ruins after six months of Russian occupation. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Amna Nawaz: Ukrainian troops are working to consolidate gains in the country's east. And with Russian soldiers gone, newly liberated Kharkiv residents are coming to terms with what they endured.Nick Schifrin visited a town north of Kharkiv in ruins after six months of Russian occupation. Nick Schifrin: The battle for Borshchova ended in Russian defeat, but not without a fight. Ukrainian troops, motivated to re-seize their own land, battled hard for a week, first with artillery, then from multiple sides, to capture a town with a population of only 400.The Russians had spent six months digging in. They left behind food and an armored personnel carrier Ukrainian soldiers have claimed as their own. One wears a U.S. Navy had taken from a Russian tank.Andriy is a junior lieutenant. This was his first major battle. Lt. Andriy, Ukrainian Soldier (through translator): To be honest, it was quite fierce. It's hard to compare for me with something, but the Russians were pushing us pretty hard. Nick Schifrin: Why do you think you were able to re-seize this area? Lt. Andriy (through translator): Their commanders abandoned them. The situation was a deadlock. But their problem is that their communication system doesn't go from top to bottom. Their commanders must have fled. And they didn't know about it until sometime later. So whenever they see cracks in their ranks, they flee. Nick Schifrin: He said, without American artillery, his command would not have launched the counteroffensive.What's your message to the Ukrainians who had to live through occupation in this area now that you're here? Lt. Andriy (through translator): I thank them that they survived through this and they stayed alive, because a lot of people lost everything. All they have suffered is incredible pain. Nick Schifrin: Liberation is like removing a bandage and exposing deep wounds.What happened to you during occupation? Irina Mykhaylova, Borshchova Resident (through translator): They were here from the first minute. I can't speak. Serhei Popov, Borshchova Resident (through translator): I still can't believe it's all quiet now. They were firing 24/7 from here. It never stopped. We were living on the front line. Irina Mykhaylova (through translator): We lived in the basement, and the Russians were all around us. Nick Schifrin: Irina Mykhaylova and her husband, Serhei Popov, had two choices. Move to Russia, or stay here in the crossfire. Irina Mykhaylova (through translator): There were tanks firing. It was very scary. We were sitting in the basement hunched down, and I didn't know if the roof would collapse. I was always thinking, how was I going to die, whether they would execute me or not. Nick Schifrin: They say the first Russian soldiers who arrived were special forces, who echoed Kremlin propaganda. Irina Mykhaylova (through translator): They were looking for the — quote — "enemies." They said: "We will save you. Don't be afraid. We're Russian." Serhei Popov (through translator): "We came to liberate you."And I told them: "You liberated us. No home. No car. You liberated me from everything." Nick Schifrin: She walks me down the town's single road toward their home. There is no heating, no water. She prayed through the cold every night that her home would survive.Thank you for letting us into your home.This was supposed to be a summer home, a sanctuary away from the city. It's a mess. They have spent most of their time downstairs in the cellar or a nearby basement. Despite the damage, they vow to rebuild.What will you do now? Will you stay here? Irina Mykhaylova (through translator): Yes. Yes. I pray to God they don't shoot here anymore. Most importantly, they don't shoot, and that's it. I can live in the cold without water. I just don't want them to shoot. Nick Schifrin: It will take a long time here to fix all that's been broken.For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin in Borshchova. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Sep 15, 2022 By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin is PBS NewsHour’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent. He leads NewsHour’s daily foreign coverage, including multiple trips to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, and has created weeklong series for the NewsHour from nearly a dozen countries. The PBS NewsHour series “Inside Putin’s Russia” won a 2017 Peabody Award and the National Press Club’s Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence. In 2020 Schifrin received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Media Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of Foreign Affairs. He was a member of the NewsHour teams awarded a 2021 Peabody for coverage of COVID-19, and a 2023 duPont Columbia Award for coverage of Afghanistan and Ukraine. Prior to PBS NewsHour, Schifrin was Al Jazeera America's Middle East correspondent. He led the channel’s coverage of the 2014 war in Gaza; reported on the Syrian war from Syria's Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders; and covered the annexation of Crimea. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his Gaza coverage and a National Headliners Award for his Ukraine coverage. From 2008-2012, Schifrin served as the ABC News correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2011 he was one of the first journalists to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after Osama bin Laden’s death and delivered one of the year’s biggest exclusives: the first video from inside bin Laden’s compound. His reporting helped ABC News win an Edward R. Murrow award for its bin Laden coverage. Schifrin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Overseas Press Club Foundation. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). @nickschifrin By — Volodymyr Solohub Volodymyr Solohub By — Teresa Cebrián Aranda Teresa Cebrián Aranda Teresa is a Producer on the Foreign Affairs & Defense Unit at PBS NewsHour. She writes and produces daily segments for the millions of viewers in the U.S. and beyond who depend on PBS NewsHour for timely, relevant information on the world’s biggest issues. She’s reported on authoritarianism in Latin America, rising violence in Haiti, Egypt’s crackdown on human rights, Israel’s judicial reforms and China’s zero-covid policy, among other topics. Teresa also contributed to the PBS NewsHour’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, which was named recipient of a duPont-Columbia Award in 2023, and was part of a team awarded with a Peabody Award for the NewsHour’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.