They were the first to meet a column of Russian equipment that broke into Buchi at the end of February 22.

Ordinary residents of the city, and only a few with combat experience, took up arms and set up an ambush for the Russian equipment that pushed through the city.

Although the forces in that battle were not equal, the ambush of the volunteers made it possible to buy time for the Armed Forces, which later finished off the remnants of the Russians and did not let them into Kyiv, TSN reports. 

The occupiers planned a parade in Kyiv, but encountered resistance from ordinary Ukrainians.

They were set on fire with "Molotov cocktails" in the suburbs of the Ukrainian capital and fired upon from private houses.

Enraged Russians destroyed the houses of civilians, ransacked and massacred civilians.

Footage and photos from Vokzalna Street in Buch went viral all over the world, because it was here that the Ukrainians destroyed one of the largest columns of Russian equipment that was going to Kyiv. 

In March 2022, when a column of Russian equipment was moving through the residential quarter of Buchi, the fire of the Armed Forces was adjusted by local volunteers.

"The street here is narrow.

They stopped and started to turn around to give back, but they did not succeed, and they were covered here," - say the locals. 

A column of armored personnel carriers broke into Bucha on the morning of February 27, they were moving from the direction of Gostomel - it was there, at the Antonov airfield, that the Russian landing force landed. 

The occupiers, without fear that they would be shot at, planned to bypass Bucha and break into the capital.

The first to meet them were pensioners and a dozen more volunteers.

They set up an ambush right in the middle of private estates and high-rise buildings.

"We dispersed along the street.

When the column was moving, it reached the intersection and the first car was hit with a grenade launcher," says Pavlo Mazin. 

Another Russian armored vehicle was pelted by volunteers with the usual "Molotov cocktails" from a nearby unfinished building.

Volodymyr rushed towards the Russians, who were sitting on armored vehicles.

Enraged by the unexpected resistance, the occupiers began to rush in different directions, firing at everything in their path.

They spotted Volodymyr and rushed after him and started shooting him in the legs.

Buchanets managed to escape.

He is still treating the consequences of that injury.

"I caught three bullets.

I lay there for 15 minutes. Then the guys dragged me behind the house," the man says. 

Not everyone survived that battle.

ATO veteran Volodymyr Kowalskiy, a fighter with prostheses, managed to fire only a few bullets at the invaders and was killed by enemy fire.

"He had gunshot wounds.

He was shot in the chest and head.

A few bullets.

From the column.

They beat from that side.

And he couldn't even leave without his legs", - say the people of Buchan. 

This ambush of volunteers delayed the movement of Russian equipment in Buchya and allowed to gain time for the Armed Forces, which were already on their way to meet the enemy and finished off most of the vehicles on the way out of the city.

"After us, they no longer marched.

They hastened and went under military guard.

They didn't skip the city as planned," the volunteers assure. 

The Russians who managed to survive after the shooting of the column spread around the city, says Andrii, the head of the Buchansk DFTG.

They hid in the houses of civilians and killed their owners.

"There is a house further behind the school, they drove into the garden and killed the owner.

One car jumped out, entered Tarasivska Street and stopped there, she did not understand where they should go next," says Andriy. 

And they were also looking for fire adjusters and those who shot at their column.

They grabbed passers-by on the streets, broke into homes and took people captive.

They killed men and women.

During the 33 days of occupation of Buchi, the Russians killed almost half a thousand Ukrainians.

Now the association with this picturesque city on the outskirts of Kyiv is forever etched in our memory as the genocide of the Ukrainian people.

"We immediately have scotch tape on our faces, our hands are wrapped.

Everything is up to the wall," says volunteer Leonid Cherkaskyi. 

He only realized after Buchi's release that he had miraculously survived.

During the occupation, the ordinary manager of the condominium was a volunteer in the humanitarian headquarters of the city council.

"They flew in and blocked the whole place.

They screamed, that's all, we found them.

What is teroborona and there are weapons here, and here they are engaged in corrections," the man recalls. 

But instead of weapons, these hangars had only medicine and bread for the inhabitants of Bucha.

"Shoved, hit, machine gun to the head.

He says he will shoot.

It was already like that... and shoot," Leonid recalls. 

He was kept in the basement for a day, and then released.

Leonid himself is surprised at his luck.

Together with his brothers, a year after Buchi's release, they still remain together and gather at the front.

Although none of these volunteers have state awards, neither for organizing the defense of Buchi, nor for raising equipment, none of these men regretted that in the winter of 2022 they stood up for the defense of their hometown.

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