How bodies of fallen territorial defense fighters were collected and buried in occupied Kherson

On March 1, when Russian troops had already completely surrounded Kherson and there were no Ukrainian Armed Forces formations left in the city, soldiers of the newly formed 194th battalion of the Territorial Defense were sent to stop the aggressor's offensive from Chornobayivka. The battles took place simultaneously in Lilac Park and in the area of Bilozerska Square. In both cases, the forces were unequal and Ukrainian defenders were literally shot with heavy weapons. 

In Lilac Park, 43 Territorial Defense fighters were met by regular Russian troops with heavy equipment, snipers, and machine guns. Ukrainians had only Kalashnikov rifles, Molotov cocktails and two Mukha grenade launchers. Some did not even have military uniforms. According to Stanislav Vasanov, a participant of that battle, the active firefight lasted no more than 20 minutes as the forces were too unequal.

As a result, at least 18 Ukrainian defenders were killed in Lilac Park. In May, the residents of occupied Kherson arranged a memorial at the place where Ukrainians were killed. 

Oleksandr Khomenko found witnesses of those tragic events.

Retreat or betrayal?

Andriy Bakun tells about what happened to some of the surviving Kherson Territorial Defense fighters after the battle in Lilac Park. Bakun helped them retreat, and later, during the occupation, he kept some of the documents of the defenders killed in Lilac Park. After the liberation of Kherson, he handed over these documents to the SBU.

In addition, Bakun for several months hid one of the wounded Territorial Defense fighters, who participated in a parallel battle near the Bilozerska Square in Kherson.

"Just before the battle started, my father came out and disappeared. And I went to look for him. I came out of the gate to the street, saw our soldiers retreating from the park. They asked me for directions to the roundabout (Bilozerska Square — ed.), because no one knew the way. I showed them everything, then I saw that another wounded man had fallen behind them, his scalp was torn off. I took him home, quickly provided first aid, because the Russians were already chasing them. He also did not know the way, so we went out to catch up with his fellow soldiers. 

We did not see them again, but we met another group of Territorial Defense fighters retreating from the roundabout to the park. It turns out that their commander Kuzmenko told some of them to retreat to the park, and told those who were shot in the park to retreat to the roundabout." (Dmytro Kuzmenko — former commander of the 194th battalion of the Territorial Defense, in June 2022, several Russian media reported that Kuzmenko had applied for a Russian passport, but the serviceman himself denies it — ed.)

"In my presence, they called this commander. Here we allegedly have 500 meters left to the agricultural institute, now the guy will take us there (Andriy Bakun - ed.). The commander said: 'Throw away your weapons and run away'. And they were just confused then. Then they had a little rest in School #46, hid their weapons, and took their wounded somewhere."

"Boy, get up, mom will cry"

Maryna Belikova was the first to discover the numerous bodies of Territorial Defense fighters in Lilac Park. She could hear the sounds of the battle very well, but she realized its consequences only the next morning.

"On March 1, when the war started, there was shooting and bombing near the park, we all, of course, hid. We had no electricity, and water, and the phone was dead. And when everything calmed down, I went to Olena (the head of the block committee — ed.) to charge it. 

When I came out, I saw people running down Telman Street toward the 'Nova Liniya' store. I inquired: 'Where are you all running?'. They said: 'To save people'. I asked 'What people?' 'Those who are still alive'."

"We see that four buildings along the park are burning. It seems that the strike damaged a gas pipe and it caught fire there. We ran to School #8 for fire extinguishers, grabbed them, and gave them to people. 

Then I went further along that fence on the 2nd Western Street. I saw some skinny boy lying on the corner of Naftovykiv and Zakhidna streets, and I remembered white sneakers (he was wearing — ed.). And I thought he was drunk. I did not understand that it was war. And I woke him up and said: 'Boy, get up, your mother will cry. You will freeze, they will kill you here'. And I ran on.

I also remember that when we were carrying these heavy fire extinguishers, some woman was walking in a T-shirt, and it was freezing outside, and she kept repeating: 'Do you need help? Is anyone alive?' I realized much later that it must have been a nurse".

"No one deserves to be eaten by a dog"

"The next morning we saw that stray dogs living near the cemetery came to us, the war drove them closer to people. And one big white dog was pulling a human leg."

At this moment, Maryna stops talking for the first time and starts to cry, but she quickly pulls herself together and continues to recall how she went to the park to check the terrible theory about the man in sneakers she saw the day before.

"And I lost my mind. My son did not believe it, he said: 'Mom, it's a cow bone'. And I said to him: 'Son, where have you seen cows walking on our streets and coming to the park to die?' Because the bone was very yellow there."

"So I went to the park. Near the blue house, this is the former cafe 'Fakel', one man is lying down, and next to him is a machine gun. Then I saw another one, and then I turned around and suddenly began to understand, there was another one lying near the oil refinery, another person was lying near the yellow bus. Goodness gracious, what is happening! I run to the policewoman's office and just start pounding on her door. 

At first, the policewoman did not believe me that there were many people lying there. We went to this park, she picked up some ordinary notebook, and there was a list with surnames, names and phone numbers. We understood that it was a list of those who were lying there. We did not know what to do with all this. I said: 'Let's record their faces, let's show them on the Internet, so that their mothers, brothers, anyone could recognize and take these people'."

This video was shared by several social media groups, and the news about the tragic battle in Lilac Park spread all over Ukraine. Later, the Russian military came to Olena's office and forced her to delete the videos.

"Then we met the guard Vika. She asked me for a cigarette, her hands were shaking. I gave her a cigarette, and she said that early in the morning she also went out to bum a cigarette, when the shooting ended, she was very scared. And some man was walking towards her. He was staggering, and she thought that the man was drunk. And he said to her: 'Woman, I am not drunk, I am wounded'. And she brought him to her gatehouse, and he told her there: 'If I die, please remember my name — Lehenkyi Serhii Mykolaiovych'. She called him an ambulance, the car arrived three or four hours later and took the man away. We are not aware of his further fate. 

We started to call the neighborhood watch (to look for people to help bury the Terrotorial Defense fighters - ed.). The cemetery director Pavlo Serhiyovych gave us a small black vehicle, a minibus for the dead." 

"I ran to call neighbors (to help collect bodies - ed.). A car drove up, and we put bodies in it — five at a time. And then the guys who work for the Geologists (local cemetery - ed.) said: 'Woman, please bring thick garbage bags and rubber gloves, because everything has to be done differently there'. And we began to put our legs and arms into these bags.

No person, no matter what nationality they are, deserves to be eaten by a dog. A dog should not eat a person, they should be buried.

I did not go crazy after all this, because I went to my 90-year-old friend's house to drink moonshine, came back, went to bed and then did not allow myself to ponder anything. And that was the end of the war in the park for me."

The relatives of the dead screamed down the phone: "What are you, separatist, f***Ing on about?"

Those events did not pass without consequences for the Belikov family. The next morning Maryna's husband suffered a stroke. However, the ambulance was able to take him to the hospital only on March 7 (four days later — ed.).

Maryna's son Ivan Belikov recalls the collection of bodies in Lilac Park and his father's stroke:

"On March 2, around 11 a.m., we gathered and went (to collect bodies - ed.). At first, there were not many of us there. And nothing was immediately visible, then I saw the first guy, his leg was torn off. I had never seen that before, except in movies. Then a lot of onlookers gathered. Someone was helping, someone was just taking pictures, someone saw it, vomited and stood there, I had to shout at people not to just stand there. 

There was one guy, I thought he was alive. When we went into the depths of the park, he was sitting there, his leg was stretched, apparently, the artery was hit and he leaned against a tree. I notice that he does not blink for a long time. I approached him — and he was already dead. We were still afraid at first, because we thought that the bodies were mined, that we would pick up the body and it would explode at once.

All the discovered documents were given to Andriy Bakun. We called relatives of the dead to inform them about the death, some refused to believe, screaming down the phone: "What do you mean? What are you, separatist, f***ing on about, it can not be!"

"My father is a Siberian, an oil worker, he never had any health issues. When people were being carried there, he took over the command process, and when they returned home, he completely shut up, just sat and smoked. 

The next morning I heard him screaming something. And he fell down right next to the bed. His face was cramped, his arms and legs were like a cramp. It turned out that it was a stroke — the right side was affected. He was frightened himself. At night, he must have been boiling inside, digesting everything. 

Now he tries to be useful, he carries stuff, he feels bad that he can not walk normally. He thinks that he is a burden now. Before the war, my father was a taxi driver. The car was like a joy for him, something to tinker with. And now he can't drive it. I try to take him somewhere, he likes fishing."

Funeral service and last testament

In total, according to local residents, 25 bodies of Territorial Defense fighters were collected and buried. Each of the dead was photographed before burial to make it easier to find relatives later.

The burial took place on March 2 at the city cemetery of Kherson, the day after the battle in Lilac Park. Priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Serhiy Chudynovych prayed for the fallen and performed the funeral service on the spot. He is known in the city for his social activities and pro-Ukrainian position, which later led to his imprisonment by the Russian military and torture.

Serhiy Chudynovych does not resemble the classic image of a peaceful and wise priest. He is harsh and straightforward, constantly scolding local believers who are eager to charge their phones or get some help, and in general, is very critical of everything that happens around him.

"In the morning of March 2, I received a call from former Mayor Mykolayenko (former mayor of Kherson - ed.). He was an ordinary soldier in the Territorial Defense and said that at about 11 a.m. the bodies would be brought, and they should be buried. 

I went into the house, thought, and prayed. I wrote my wife a note, told her where to bury me, if anything happens, and gave the keys and orders to the administrator to make the process (in the church - ed.) work." 

The Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which Chudynovych is in charge of, is located in the Korabel district, or as it is also called, "Island". It is one of the closest to the positions of the Russian military, and it was one of the first to be shelled after the liberation of the city. The conversation with the priest is interrupted by another shelling, and we finish it, lying on the floor of Chudynovych's house and hiding from possible attacks. When things get a bit quieter, we continue talking about the events of March 1.

"I arrive at the cemetery, an APC is burnt. Some pragmatic man came with a bicycle, pulling something from that APC. We waited for the director, the diggers. 

There were a number of graves dug in the area, 800 meters from the road to the airport, the road to Chornobayivka. It was scary, of course, an open area. A minibus arrived, and bags with bodies were laid out. We put them in the graves one by one, and I read prayers.

To organize the funeral, a special chat was created, families of the dead were allowed in it so that they could find their relatives. Then they sent me photos of the Territorial Defense fighters through it, and I prayed for them in the church."

This report was created with the financial support of the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation as part of a series of materials under the general title "Trauma of War"