“There is no need to go to the village, I am the boss there.” That's what Halyna Kozachenko, the head of the village of Fenevychi, said when she first met the Russian military in early March 2022. As a result, they did not enter the village, but established their base on the outskirts, near the so-called Borodyansky turn. However, they warned the starosta that if they know about any sabotage by civilians, they would destroy the village in a few minutes.
Halyna Kozachenko has lived in Fenevychi, a village 60 kilometers from Kyiv, for almost 35 years. For the last twenty she has been working in the village council. She really behaves like a hostess, nothing happens in Fenevychi without her approval. She did not think of leaving the village during the occupation, because she wanted to protect its people. Halyna calls herself a guard on a bicycle who rode the streets all the time and monitored the situation in Fenevychi.
July 2022
Testimonies of Ukrainians who survived the Russian occupation as a part of the Life in War documentary project realized by the Public Interest Journalism Lab.