The Albany Gazette - 'We live here now': villagers flee in Russian-occupied Ukraine

"They took the rifle off safety and 'politely asked' us to go wherever we wanted, and said they were living there now," said the 50-year-old baker, his bottom lip trembling with emotion.

While Moscow claims to be scaling down attacks around Kyiv, Ukrainian civilians fleeing villages east of the capital say Russian forces are still carrying out a brutal occupation.

On Tuesday, Koriachenko queued for aid outside a Soviet-era municipal building in the town of Brovary, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from central Kyiv, that has become a local centre for refugees.

Koriachenko says he escaped his village in Brovary district with his wife, children and parents-in-law after Russian troops brought a mortar into their garden and started firing at Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine has won a handful of victories in villages and towns around Kyiv as it pushes back Russian forces who have tried to encircle the capital since the invasion on February 24.

Hopes rose further after Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin said Tuesday that Moscow would "radically" reduce the military activity Kyiv and the northern city of Chernigiv.

- 'Kick out these enemies' -

But as a pair of battered buses escorted by police arrived in Brovary on Tuesday carrying displaced people from the village of Rudnytske 50 kilometres east, it was clear that the occupation is far from over.

One woman wearing a pink baseball cap cradled a brown and white cat in her blue coat as she stared out of the window of the bus -- one of the only things she was able to salvage.

Bewildered and exhausted, the displaced civilians trooped out of the buses in driving rain and were packed into a canvas tent, where they were offered hot drinks and snacks.

Nearby, Yulia, who fled Shevchenkove village 25 kilometres from Brovary, sobbed with rage at the Russian invaders, while her daughter Viktoria, six, blew bubbles with bubble mixture given to her by volunteers.

"It’s just terrible now. When I fled, I ran through the fields," she said, asking to be identified by her first name.

"Gas, electricity, it’s not a problem. The problem is that they (Russian soldiers) are in the village. They simply take over peoples’ homes and live there, they take peoples’ cars and plunder the garages."

She added: "I call to you, the whole world, wake up. Help us kick out these enemies."

- 'Ukraine will win' -

A dormitory town for Kyiv with a brutalist central square and a statue of a MiG fighter jet, Brovary's place some 15 kilometres from the frontline has turned it into a centre for refugees.

At a huge food collection facility seen during a press trip organised by the Ukrainian government, volunteers collected food donated by European countries and sent it on to smaller distribution points.

Some of the windows of the centre were smashed by a Russian rocket.

Ukrainian officials also showed the charred wreckage of a warehouse storing thousands of tonnes of food, which they say was destroyed by a Russian missile strike.

As firefighters cleared the wreckage, an emergency services official claimed Russian forces were deliberately targeting food supplies.

Brovary Mayor Igor Sapozhko said that several other food warehouses in the area were also targeted, but he insists Russian forces will not break his country's spirits.

"Ukraine will win. There’s no other way," he said.

(S.G.Stein--BBZ)