Russian troops forced Ukrainian citizens into a basement for weeks, causing stress, deprivation, and death.

Russian soldiers forced 300 residents of Yahidne, near Kiev, into a school basement in March.

During their captivity, they suffered stress and deprivation, and some died.

“An old man died nearby, and then his wife,” Valentyna Saroyan, a survivor, told the AP on Tuesday.

“Then a man sat next to me died. “She was a big woman who struggled,” she added.

Residents of Yahidne, on the outskirts of Chernihiv, said they were only allowed out to cook on open fires or use the toilet on rare occasions.

Neighbours could also occasionally bury those who died in the basement in a mass grave in a nearby cemetery.

Russian troops forced Ukrainian citizens into a basement for weeks, causing stress, deprivation, and death.

Russian soldiers forced 300 residents of Yahidne, near Kiev, into a school basement in March.

During their captivity, they suffered stress and deprivation, and some died. “An old man died nearby, and then his wife,” Valentyna Saroyan, a survivor, told the AP on Tuesday.

“Then a man sat next to me died. “She was a big woman who struggled,” she added. Those who lived wrote the names of the dead in one room.

Residents of Yahidne, on the outskirts of Chernihiv, said they were only allowed out to cook on open fires or use the toilet on rare occasions. Occasionally, neighbours were allowed to bury those who died in the basement in a mass grave in a nearby cemetery.

The captives’ health also suffered in the dank basement. “We sat like this for a month,” Saroyan recalled, her legs aching. Evidence of Russian atrocities in Ukraine persists even as Russian troops withdraw. Other villagers have described more Russian cruelty.