Yulia Hrebnyeva told her husband to change the door lock and then take the children down to clean the basement, at which point Russian Su-34 bombers rushed into her house.
When the Su-34 crashed into Hrebnyeva’s house on the morning of March 5, she had just returned home from a shift directly to the soldiers. Ukraine defense of the city of Chernihiv, northern Ukraine. Before going home, Ms. Hrebnyeva bought a new lock from the hardware store across from the house.
Her husband, Rostyslav Hrebnyev, was cooking for three children and a baby who was separated from their parents after Russia Chernihiv raid. Ms. Hrebnyeva gave her husband the lock and told him to change it, then led the children down to clean the basement and heard the crash.
“Bricks fell, everything started to shake,” she said, adding that she heard what sounded like gunshots, but it was roof shingles being ripped off.
Hrebnyeva’s husband, a former military pilot, suffered burns to his hands and face but was able to get her and the four children out of the basement. “If my husband hadn’t opened the door, we would have been burned alive,” she said.
Yulia Hrebnyeva stands next to the wreckage of a Russian Su-34 fighter jet and the wreckage that used to be her home in Chernihiv, Ukraine in this photo released on May 30. Image: NY Times.
The fire broke out after the Su-34 crashed and spread to another house next to it, killing a bedridden man.
The Su-34 pilot used the ejection seat to get out of the plane. Vitaliy Serhienko, a neighbor who lives a few blocks away from Yulia Hrebnyeva, and his brother-in-law Serhiy Tkachenko heard the Russian pilot’s footsteps on the roof and went out to arrest him. Tkachenko said that the Russian pilot opened fire, killing Serhienko.
A Ukrainian soldier named Ivan Lut of the Chernihiv Territorial Defense Forces, heard the explosion and ran to where the Russian pilot could land. Ivan Lut saw the orange and white parachute stuck on the roof and started chasing the Russian pilot.
The chase ended next to Mr. Tkachenko’s house when the pilot of the Su-34 was captured, Ukraine claimed that this was Major Aleksandr Krasnoyartsev, but the Russian side has not confirmed the information. Video taken by a Ukrainian soldier shows the Russian pilot’s face and chest covered in blood, who says “I surrender, don’t shoot”.
A Ukrainian soldier holds a mobile phone with a picture of a Russian pilot captured in Chernihiv. Image: NY Times.
Crowds of locals gathered at the place where Ukrainian soldiers captured the Ukrainian pilot, some seeking revenge against him. Lut said Ukrainian soldiers had to “prevent locally to protect the life” of the Russian pilot after receiving orders to capture him alive. However, the co-pilot of the Su-34 was killed before Ukrainian soldiers found him.
Chernihiv, a city nearly 89 kilometers from the border with Russia, has been rapidly besieged since hostilities began. Fierce fighting broke out here from late February to late March. Oleksandr Lomako, the head of the Chernihiv city council, accused Russian forces of bombing vital infrastructure such as water and electricity supply stations, as well as food depots, killing more than 1,000 people.
However, the Russian side has repeatedly affirmed that it only targets military targets in Ukraine and does not attack civilian targets. Russia also accused Ukraine of hiding weapons and forces in residential areas or civilian structures.
The Russian Su-34 that crashed on March 5 was among the 8-9 Bomb fighter the same type that Ukrainian forces claimed to have shot down within a few days. This is said to have led Russian commanders to conclude that it is impossible to fly low during the day to avoid high-altitude anti-aircraft missiles. The Russian pilots then switched to night flying when darkness made it difficult for Ukrainian forces to use anti-aircraft missiles.
Location Chernihiv city, northern Ukraine. Graphics: Washington Post.
Hrebnyeva is still shocked by the events in the family’s life before and after the Su-34 crashed into the house. “On March 5, I gave out clothes and food to everyone,” she said. “By March 6, we had nothing left and people brought us clothes.”
Hrebnyeva says she wants to stay in her old home to rebuild, even though her husband and children are in Norway. “I really wanted to stay to rebuild the house in this very spot,” she said. “I want to show people that war is war, and life goes on.”
Nguyen Tien (Follow NY Times)
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