The first thing tourists or guests expect to see in Yahidne is the destroyed houses. Instead, even at the entrance to the village from the highway, lanterns with solar panels attract attention. They resemble professional studio lights on high stands and stand on every street.
After the liberation, Yahidne fell under the state reconstruction program. 16 destroyed houses are being restored by Latvia.
Yahidne became a pilot project for post-occupation reconstruction. There is new asphalt, new fences, and houses.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
Tamara Klymchuk lives in one of these houses. Her son-in-law was shot by the Russians on the first day they entered the village, on March 3. And the woman was driven to the basement of the school. When Tamara came out of the basement, she saw her completely burned-out house without a roof.
At first, she lived in a summer kitchen. In 2023, with the support of Latvia, the “box” was rebuilt. Last summer, internal work began. Tamara celebrated her housewarming only in January of this year. Even the well was rebuilt with Latvian money.
This is what Tamaraʼs house looked like when the Russians retreated from Yahidne. This is how it looks now. Latvians even bought the furniture.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
The well was also restored.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
Several apartment buildings in front of the school were also rebuilt.
During the occupation, the houses were significantly damaged.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
The school building is still undergoing renovations. It was not damaged during the occupation, but it is being rebuilt as a museum. Most likely, the exhibition will be dedicated to the resistance of the entire Chernihiv region, and not just the tragedy of Yahidne.
While there is debate about whether this museum will be national or run by the region, one wing of the school has been dismantled and the foundation for a new building has been laid.
The school in Yahidne was not operational before the full-scale invasion, there was only a kindergarten. Children from Yahidne study in schools in neighbouring villages.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
A shelter is also being built near the future museum. There will be two such bomb shelters in the village. The school walls have been dismantled.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
The entrance to the basement through which the Russians brought the "prisoners" is now closed — the builders dug a hole in front of it and filled in the foundation. Now you can get into the basement through another entrance, which was sealed off during the occupation.
Behind this door, there are stairs down and a basement where the villagers spent almost a month. Near the entrance, they were preparing food: the Russians gave them cereals and pasta doused with diesel fuel. They washed and boiled them. This entrance was preserved; during the construction of the museum, the basement could only be accessed through it.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
The basement itself has not been touched for four years. The Chernihiv Regional Museum conducted an inventory of all the items left there: childrenʼs toys, childrenʼs clothes, packages from Russian dry rations, Russian newspapers.
There were a lot of toys and things left in the basement. The youngest child there was a month and a half old. The Russians brought Russian newspapers. They promised to give baby food and diapers if the locals sang the Russian anthem and recorded a propaganda video.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
In the sports hall, the largest room in the basement where people were held, the plaster, on which the drawings of the captured children remained, began to crumble in some places due to dampness. The surviving drawings were protected from the outside with glass, but it did not save either the walls or the drawings.
The drawings were not preserved, but were covered with glass for now. This is the gym — the largest room in the basement.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
In the next room, a calendar kept by the "prisoners" still remains on the door, as well as a list of those who died in the basement and whom the Russians killed on the street.
People were forced to write on the walls because the Russians took their mobile phones right away. The right column is those who died in the basement; the left column is those who were shot by the Russians in the village.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
The dead were buried in the local cemetery. There is also the grave of Tamaraʼs son-in-law Viktor Shevchenko. As well as several graves of people who survived the occupation, came out of the basement and died later.
Tamaraʼs son-in-law Viktor died on the day of the occupation. The Russians shot him in the yard of his own house. He was buried only after the village was liberated.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
The cemetery also has a pit that was dug by locals during the occupation to bury people who died in the basement. The Russians did not allow this to be done right away — until then, the bodies were kept in the boiler room. When they finally gave permission to dig, they started shooting at the treetops.
After the deoccupation, the dead were reburied, but the pit was never filled up.
Near the pit are two graves with towels. Muzyky couple are buried here. They died in the basement among the first (8 days apart).
Діма Вага / «Бабель»
While there is no museum in Yahidne, the Laboratory of Public Interest Journalism has recorded an audio guide in which villagers talk about the occupation and how they survived in the basement. Some admit that the more they talk about their experiences, the easier it becomes for them.
Journalists from the Public Interest Journalism Laboratory arrived to document the crimes immediately after the village was liberated. They prepared and published an article in Time magazine. One of the residents Ivan Petrovych believes that more people should know about Yahidne, so he himself takes visitors to the basement.
Діма Вага / «Бабель»