Ukrainians return home in towns recently liberated from Russian control

Judy Woodruff:

Ukraine says that hundreds of thousands of people have been freed from Russian control in recent days in an offensive that has reshaped the battlefield.

The counterattack began at the end of August. Ukraine publicly emphasized the southern region of Kherson. But troops have made more gains in the Kharkiv region, where officials say there are still pockets of fighting. In the past week, Ukraine has retaken more territory than Russia took in the past five months, and they have recaptured dozens of towns.

Nick Schifrin traveled to an area recently seized back. He found people returning to their homes and others mourning for all that was lost.

Nick Schifrin:

The road north of Kharkiv is littered with the remains of a Russian withdrawal. This used to be the front lines. But in the last few days, the Russian military pulled back and the Ukrainian military advanced. It's now once again Ukrainian-held,recaptured at great cost.

All up and down this road, you can see signs of the battle. That was a market. These two places, believe it or not, sold travel insurance to visit Russia, and, across the street, a restaurant, a cafe and a money exchange. And now that Ukrainians have gained access to this territory, they're going to see what the Russians left behind.

We drove toward the Russian border with prosecutors and crime scene investigators looking into Russian war crimes, along the route, mostly empty roads and mostly empty villages, one of them, Ruska Lozova. It had a prewar population of more than 5,000. Today, it's in the dozens.

So, this is the first time you have been home since the invasion.

Thirty-seven-year-old Volodymyr Solokha invited me into his home he hadn't seen in six months. There's some damage, but he's lucky. The house is intact. It has no electricity or water, but it's exactly the way they left it when they fled, his 18-month-old daughter's crib, his 6-year-old daughter's toys, drawings of a more peaceful time, as they were the moment the invasion began.

Volodymyr Solokha, Ruska Lozova Resident (through translator):

I woke up at 4:30, and the shooting began, very loud. I ran back into the house, grabbed our kids, got the stuff that we could grab fast. We got into our car and left. And that's it.

Nick Schifrin:

And why did you come back today?

Volodymyr Solokha (through translator):

Our army, the armed forces of Ukraine, pushed the Russians all the way to the border. So it's more or less safe here. So I decided to come here to feed my dog and feed my cats. I found my dog, but we also had three cats, and I still don't know what happened to them.

Nick Schifrin:

He checked the outside shed, the backyard, even the side room of the garage.

Finally, a cat located on the roof. After six months of scrounging for food, it finally gets fed, but its owners hunger for peace remains unsatisfied.

Volodymyr Solokha (through translator):

My wife and kids won't return here until Russia stops shelling Kharkiv completely, because that's still what is happening every day. There are still strikes every day. And it's not safe to come back.

Nick Schifrin:

We head further north to within eight miles of the Russian border. Ukraine's recent success allows Kharkiv police to reach areas that until this past weekend were too dangerous.

But, in the past, Russia has left behind booby traps. So the bomb squad checks a discarded car and the area around it for trip wires or unexploded bombs, a few feet away an unexploded mortar round a reminder of the fighting that only recently ended.

Once it's all clear, the crime scene investigators go to work. In early March, a Ukrainian family was driving this car north, when they were attacked by a Russian machine gun. The car then caught fire. They comb through the debris, looking for human remains, all that's left, small bone chips, and rescued from the mud, a reminder of the lives lost, a watch.

Olexandr Klochko is the CSI team leader.

How important is this kind of work when it comes to documenting Russian crimes here?

Olexandr Klochko, Crime Scene Investigator, Kharkiv Regional Police (through translator):

It's very important, because all of these documents will be further submitted to the office of the prosecutor general of Ukraine, who in turn will send them to The Hague for further prosecution to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Nick Schifrin:

Klochko's office is in Kharkiv city. It was destroyed by a Russian rocket yesterday.

Olexandr Klochko (through translator):

When we hear the stories of what happened here and when we get on the site and see the tragedy inflicted on these people, of course, it's psychologically difficult, but we're holding out.

Nick Schifrin:

And then here is 65-year-old Anatoliy Khrapach. He is not a soldier, nor a police officer. The man and girl who were killed in this car were his son and granddaughter, Anatoliy on the right, his son Andriy on the left, Anatoliy with 9-year-old Kesenia.

Anatoliy Khrapach, Kharkiv Resident (through translator):

She was a schoolgirl, 9 years old. She used to dance and do figure skating.

Businessman.

(through translator):

He was an entrepreneur. He traveled a lot. And everything is gone now.

Nick Schifrin:

When you're looking at the scene, how do you feel? What are you thinking?

Anatoliy Khrapach (through translator):

Horror. Horror. What can you say? It's been half-a-year already, but, still, I don't have the strength.

Nick Schifrin:

The whole family was in the car, Andriy and Kesenia on the right. But, remarkably, Olena and 17-year-old Misha on the left survived and made it to Germany.

We spoke to Misha today online.

Misha Khrapach, Ukrainian Refugee:

Russia now is a terrorist state. And I think that the whole world should know what this country do with me, with my family, and with my country, with Ukraine, because we were just civilians, and they were soldiers.

For what my father and my sister die? For what? They were just a civilian.

Nick Schifrin:

Will today, will getting these remains, will working with this team from the police help you find some kind of closure, some kind of solace?

Anatoliy Khrapach (through translator):

I think yes. I think yes. This is difficult.

Nick Schifrin:

Difficult, perhaps impossible to ever understand what Russia has left behind.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.