Russian troops used villagers in northern Ukraine as human shields to try to protect themselves from a counter-attack from Ukrainian forces, the BBC has been told.
Villagers from Obukhovychi, just south of the exclusion zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, told BBC correspondent, Jeremy Bowen that on the night of 14 March Russian soldiers were losing men and armoured vehicles to a counter-attack from Ukrainian forces.
Russian troops then went door-to door to round up about 150 people at gunpoint and held them in a freezing cold school gym as protection for Russian forces, villagers said.
Using civilians to shield armed forces from attack is against international humanitarian law.
“They took us from the cellars where we were hiding and forced us out,” local Lydmila Sutkova, one of many people interviewed, said.
“Old ladies, children, everyone. It was terrifying. They broke open the doors of anyone who wouldn’t open up.”.
“A two-year-old girl should not see this,” she said.
“I was afraid that we would all be shot in that gym. I was scared for my daughter. I don’t have the words.”
