"Massive destruction of everything" Bath woman shares details of Ukraine road trip
Zhenya Shkill from Bathford is in the country to establish exactly what help Ukrainians need
Last updated 25th Apr 2023
A woman from Bath has told us of her shock after visiting some of the most damaged parts of Ukraine, but says it inspires her to help the country more.
Zhenya Shkill is originally from Kyiv but has lived in Bathford for many years.
When Russia invaded her home country she helped create an unofficial tie between Bath and the Ukrainian city of Oleksandriya and now she is back in Ukraine to find out how we here in the UK, can best help those living through the war.
Here at Greatest Hits Radio, we've spoken to her after a road trip through Bucha and Borodyanka, where some of the most ferocious fighting happened during the early stages of the war, last year.
"All roads are horribly damaged," she said.
"Bridges are destroyed, or were destroyed and now they are trying to rebuild them so quite often you don't drive on the bridge but sort of under the bridge, there is (an) alternative route.
"And all the time you see destroyed houses, I just couldn't take pictures of all of them...
"I just drove along the main road (and) if it's not destroyed buildings you could see that all the windows are shattered and there is not enough glass now to replace windows."
Zhenya described to us how in Ukraine today a shortage of glass means people cannot replace windows, so instead a thin plastic is used, which, she says, is not dissimilar to cling film.
"Obviously thicker than cling film, instead of the glass in windows," she said.
"In one place I also saw a tank, which they (the Russians) obviously decided to leave."
Military versus civilian targets
The Russian leadership has repeatedly claimed it does not purposefully attack civilian targets in Ukraine, but Zhenya clearly does not believe that to be true.
Military experts in the West agree with Zhenya's view, arguing it is in fact a deliberate tactic, adopted to try and grind Ukrainians into submission.
"I drove to the shop where I used to go shopping," she said.
"That shop wasn't destroyed but the next shop on the other side was destroyed and you know, when there's all this talk of only military objects being targeted, you just drive and you see the massive destruction of everything.
"So shops, can they be military targets?
"Come on."
Life continues...
"The saddest thing," Zhenya told us, was that amongst all the destruction it was a glorious Spring day as she passed through, with clear blue skies creating an even greater contrast with the destruction below.
"It just hurts to see how there's all these black buildings," she said.
"We have lots of birds, beautiful flowers, you see children playing on playgrounds opposite those destroyed buildings, black buildings in Borodyanka and you think, 'will they think it's normal?'"
"They have to live, people just live on."
Zhenya says she left feeling like she had "a piece of mince meat" inside her heart.
"It's just unbearable," she said.
Friends of Oleksandriya
Here in the UK, Zhenya has been instrumental in creating a group called Friends of Oleksandriya.
It is a collective of residents across Bath and North East Somerset, which raises money for the Ukrainian city of Oleksandriya.
Zhenya decided to form an unofficial partnership between the two cities after discovering various similarities between them, including population size and culturally.
Oleksandriya for example boasts a theatre which is famous within Ukraine, much like the Theatre Royal in Bath and the city is home to a football team in the county's top flight, similar to Bath Rugby here.
For months Zhenya's group has been fundraising to help by electric generators and other crucial supplies for Oleksandriya.
In February a concert at Bath Abbey raised nearly £17,000 and in going to Ukraine, Zhenya hoped to establish what else they need.
She says in that regard, the trip has inspired her.
How can you help?
Earlier on in Zhenya's trip she visited Oleksandriya and discovered many of the children there as well as adults cannot speak English, but are very keen to learn.
As such she is keen to help supply English books to the city or perhaps even help English teachers visit.
"I have a huge plan of things I think we can all do in Bath and North East Somerset (to help)," she said.
"They can be simple things, for example they need bedding for internally displaced people and so on and they want to learn.
"So that was very positive that I learnt in Oleksandriya.
"They were all happy that I said, 'would you like to learn English?'
"And they were like, 'yes we would,' so they want to learn.
"They want to live their active life and be better so that's a very positive thing, so I'm just planning to send lots of books for children and grown ups...
"I just want to help them."
If you want to find out more about Zhenya's work and the Friends of Oleksandriya group you can do so here.
There is also a Friends of Oleksandriya Facebook group you can join here.