“谢谢你没有杀死我们”
BORODIANKA, Ukraine — The first sign of trouble was when a squad of Chechen soldiers burst through the gate.
乌克兰博罗季安卡——一队车臣士兵冲破大门,预示着要有大麻烦了。
They jumped from their Jeeps, combat boots hitting the pavement hard, and ordered the 500 patients and staff of Borodianka’s special care home into the courtyard, at gunpoint.
他们从吉普车上跳下来,战靴重重地踏在人行道上,举枪下令博罗季安卡特殊人群疗养院的500名病人和工作人员去院子里。
周五,乌克兰人正在清理被破坏的乌克兰博罗季安卡镇就业办公室。
“We thought we were going to be executed,” Maryna Hanitska, the home’s director, said in an interview this week.
“我们以为我们要被处决,”院长玛丽娜·哈尼茨卡本周在接受采访时说。
The soldiers pulled out a camera, Ms. Hanitska said, and then barked at her to make everyone smile. Most of the patients were crying.
哈尼茨卡说,士兵们拿出相机,然后冲她吼叫,要她让每个人笑起来。大多数病人都在哭。
“We command you to say to the camera, ‘Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,’’’ the soldiers demanded of Ms. Hanitska.
士兵们对哈尼茨卡发号施令:“我们命令你对着镜头说,‘谢谢你,弗拉基米尔·弗拉基米罗维奇·普京。’”
With several guns in her face, she said, she quickly ran through her options. She would never thank Russia’s president, whom she had called “a liar” and “a killer.”
她说,面对几把枪,她很快就做出了决定。她永远不会感谢她称为“骗子”和“杀手”的俄罗斯总统。
But she didn’t want the soldiers to hurt anyone. So she managed to utter, “Thank you for not killing us.”
但她不希望士兵伤害任何人。所以她艰难地说:“谢谢你没有杀死我们。”
And then she fainted.
然后她昏倒了。
Thus began a nightmarish ordeal at a Ukrainian mental health facility in Borodianka, a small town with a few apartment blocks that lies at a strategic intersection about 50 miles northwest of the capital, Kyiv.
就这样,在乌克兰博罗季安卡的一家精神卫生疗养院里,一场噩梦般的磨难开始了。博罗季安卡是一个拥有几栋公寓楼的小镇,地处首都基辅西北约50英里的一个战略枢纽。
In more than a dozen interviews conducted in the past two days in Borodianka and other towns in the devastated areas around Kyiv, villagers described the Russian soldiers as brutal, sadistic, ill-disciplined and juvenile. Their accounts could not be independently verified, but were consistent with other reports and visual evidence about Russian behavior in the region.
过去两天在博罗季安卡和基辅周边遭破坏地区的其他城镇进行的十几次采访中,村民们称俄罗斯士兵野蛮、虐待成性、没有纪律和肆意破坏。他们的说法无法独立核实,但与其他关于俄罗斯在该地区行为的报告和图像证据相符。
The siege at the mental health facility dragged on for weeks, during which the building lost heat, water and electricity, and more than a dozen patients lost their lives. What unfolded there represents the depths of despair and at the same time amazing pluck under a brief but harrowing Russian occupation.
对精神卫生疗养院的围困持续了数周,在此期间,疗养院建筑物没有了供暖、水和电,十多名患者死亡。俄罗斯的短暂占领令人痛苦,而在疗养院发生的一切代表了人们所处的绝望深渊,同时也展现了惊人的勇气。
Throughout the areas of Ukraine recently liberated from a monthlong Russian occupation, a long string of disturbing stories is emerging of terror and death that Russian soldiers inflicted on unarmed Ukrainian civilians under their control.
最近,乌克兰的一些地区从长达一个月的俄罗斯占领中解放出来,这些地方都出现了一连串令人不安的报道,称俄罗斯士兵给受其控制的手无寸铁的乌克兰平民带去恐怖和死亡。
Every day, Ukrainian investigators step into a dank cellar or muddy field or someone’s backyard and discover bodies of villagers who were shot in the head or bear signs of torture. More accounts are surfacing of civilians being held as human shields and some dying from lack of food, water or heat. On Friday, Ukrainian officials said the Russian forces had killed at least 900 civilians as they withdrew from the Kyiv region.
每天,乌克兰调查人员走进潮湿的地窖、泥泞的田野或某户人家的后院,都会发现被击中头部或带有酷刑痕迹的村民尸体。更多关于平民被当作人体盾牌的报道浮出水面,有些人因缺乏食物、水或供暖而死亡。周五,乌克兰官员表示,俄罗斯军队在撤出基辅地区时已经杀害了至少900名平民。
Much of this misery was meted out in small towns near Kyiv, where the Russians occupied a large swath in the early days of the war but were driven out two weeks ago by less equipped but much more determined Ukrainian forces.
大部分悲剧发生在基辅附近的小镇上。俄罗斯人在战争初期占领了基辅附近大片土地,但两周前被装备较少但更顽强的乌克兰军队赶了出去。
Administrators at Borodianka’s mental health home said that Russian soldiers robbed their pharmacy of rubbing alcohol to drink. Villagers in other places said they stole bedsheets and sneakers, and defaced many of the homes they took over with childish graffiti. Workers at the mental health home also said that on their way out, Russian soldiers scrawled profane messages on the walls — in human excrement.
博罗季安卡精神卫生疗养院的管理人员说,俄罗斯士兵抢劫了他们的药房中的消毒酒精来喝。其他地方的村民说,他们偷走床单和运动鞋,并在他们占领的许多房屋里用幼稚的涂鸦乱涂乱画。疗养院的工作人员还说,俄罗斯士兵在离开时,用人类粪便在墙上潦草地留下不敬的话。
“I threw up when I saw that,” Ms. Hanitska said. “I don’t understand how they were raised, by whom, and who could do this.”
“我看到时吐了,”哈尼茨卡说。“我不明白他们是什么人用什么方法养大的,我也不明白谁能做出这种事。”
Lypivka, a blip of a village dwarfed by immense wheat fields, was occupied by Russian soldiers until March 31. Here, villagers said the Russians double crossed them.
利皮夫卡是一个小村庄,却有一片广阔的麦田,在3月31日以前,村庄一直被俄罗斯士兵占领。那里的村民们说俄罗斯人欺骗了他们。
Some village women had begged Russian commanders for permission to evacuate, and the Russians seemed to agree. So on March 12, a group of older men, women and children piled into 14 cars and slowly began to drive to what they thought would be safety.
村里的一些女性请求俄罗斯指挥官允许他们撤离,俄罗斯人似乎同意了。于是3月12日,一群老幼妇孺挤进了14辆汽车,慢慢行驶去往他们认为是安全的地方。
“All of us had white flags and we had permission,” said Valriy Tymchuk, a shopkeeper, who drove a minibus in the convoy.
“我们所有人都有白旗,我们被允许撤离,”在车队中驾驶一辆小巴的店主瓦尔里·提姆丘克说。
But then Russian armored personnel carriers swiveled their turrets toward them, villagers said. A shell ripped into the first car. And then another. And then another.
但随后,村民们说,俄罗斯装甲运兵车将炮塔对准了他们。一枚炮弹击中了第一辆车。然后一辆又一辆车被砸中。
The convoy turned into a fireball.
车队变成了一个火球。
Mr. Tymchuk said he saw a family of four, including a young child, trapped in their car and engulfed in flames. Many of the singed cars are still on the road. The charred bones of that child are still in the back seat, Mr. Tymchuk said. What appeared to be pieces of bone were scattered among the blackened metal and heaps of ash.
提姆丘克说,他看到一个四口之家——包括一个年幼的孩子——被困在他们的车里并被火焰吞没。许多烧焦的汽车仍在道路上。提姆丘克说,那个孩子烧焦的遗骨还在后座上。似乎是骨头碎片的东西散落在发黑的金属和成堆的灰烬中。
Next to the cars lay two dead dogs, their fur singed.
汽车旁边躺着两条死狗,它们的皮毛被烧焦了。
Mr. Tymchuk barely escaped after his minibus was hit and shrapnel sliced into his face.
提姆丘克的小巴也被击中,弹片划破了他的脸,他差点没能逃出来。
He shook his head when asked why he thought the Russians did this.
当他被问道他认为俄罗斯人为什么这样做时,他摇了摇头。
“They are zombies,” he said.
“他们就是一群僵尸,”他说。
These villages were on the front line, part of Russia’s failed attempt to encircle and capture Kyiv. The same was true of Bucha, another village north of Kyiv and the site of the worst atrocities yet discovered. All these places are quiet now, allowing forensic investigators to do their work. And the more they look, the more they find.
俄罗斯企图包围和占领基辅的计划失败了,在俄罗斯的部分计划中,这些村庄位于前线。布查也是如此,它是基辅以北的一个村庄,在那里发现了迄今为止最严重的暴行。现在所有这些地方都很安静,法医调查人员得以开展工作。他们调查越多,发现的就越多。
In Makariv, another small town near Kyiv, authorities said they recently discovered more than 20 corpses, in different yards and homes, many bearing marks of torture. In the Brovary area, farther east, police officers just found six bodies in a cellar, all men who apparently had been executed.
在基辅附近的另一个小镇马卡里夫,当局表示,他们最近在一些院子和家中发现了20多具尸体,其中许多带有酷刑痕迹。在更东边的布罗瓦里地区,警察刚刚在地窖里发现了六具尸体,均为男性,显然都是被处决的。
“We have seen bodies with knife wounds and marks of beatings, and some with their hands tied with tape,” said Oleksandr Omelyanenko, a police official in the Kyiv region.
“我们看到有刀伤和殴打痕迹的尸体,有些人的手被胶带绑着,”基辅地区的警官奥列克桑德尔·奥梅利亚年科说。
“The places hardest hit,” he added, “were occupied the longest.”
他还说,“被占领时间最长的地方受到的打击最重。”
That was the story for Borodianka and the Borodianka Psychoneurological Nursing Home.
这就是博罗季安卡和博罗季安卡精神卫生疗养院的故事。
Ms. Hanitska, 43 and a former school headmaster, said she watched from the windows of the three-story building as the Russian trucks poured in. She counted 500.
哈尼茨卡现年43岁,曾担任过校长。疗养院有三层楼高,她说从窗外看到了俄罗斯卡车涌入。她数了数有500辆。
Then, worried about snipers, the Russians began shelling apartment blocks lining the roads, and dozens of residents died under a cascade of rubble, according to emergency service officials.
随后,据急救机构官员称,由于担心有狙击手,俄罗斯人开始炮击沿路的公寓楼,数十名居民死于层层瓦砾下。
The shock waves rattled the special-needs home, built in the 1970s to provide for adults with neurological and psychological disorders. Ms. Hanitska said some of her patients became aggressive, and three even escaped and have yet to be found. Others were terrified and curled up under their beds and in their closets.
冲击波震动了这座面向特殊人群的疗养院,这个1970年代建设的地方旨在为患有神经和心理疾病的成年人提供服务。哈尼茨卡说,她的一些病人变得具有攻击性,其中三人甚至逃走了,至今仍未找到。其他人吓坏了,蜷缩在床下和壁橱里。
“It was more than 10 times scary,” said Ihor Nikolaenko, a patient.
“那是10倍以上的恐惧,”患者伊霍尔·尼古拉连科说。
On March 5, it got worse.
3月5日,情况变得更糟。
That’s when the Chechens showed up. Chechen troops are especially dreaded, believed to be more ruthless than other Russians, a consequence of years of their own failed separatist war against Russia’s central government.
那时车臣人出现了。车臣军队尤其令人恐惧,据信他们比其他俄罗斯人更冷酷无情,这是他们多年来与俄罗斯中央政府进行的分离主义战争失败的结果。
Ms. Hanitska and other staff members said they could tell the troops were Chechen by their light-colored beards and the language they spoke among themselves. The Ukrainian authorities posted messages on social media in which they referred to the Chechens and warned them not to hurt the patients.
哈尼茨卡和其他工作人员说,他们可以从他们浅色的胡须和他们使用的语言判断出这些是车臣部队。乌克兰当局在社交媒体上发布消息,其中提到了车臣人,并警告他们不要伤害患者。
“These are mostly sick people with developmental disabilities,” Oleksandr Pavliuk, a senior Ukrainian military official, said in a statement. “But these are our people and we cannot and will never leave them.”
“这些人大多是有心理发展障碍的病人,”乌克兰高级军官奥列克桑德尔·帕夫柳克在一份声明中说。“但这些是我们的人民,我们不能也永远不会离开他们。”
By this point, for some people inside, it was too late. Ms. Hanitska said that her first patient died from exposure to the cold in late February. By early March, a half of dozen more passed away. In total, she lost 13.
至此,对于疗养院里的一些人来说,为时已晚。哈尼茨卡说,她的第一个死亡的病人在2月下旬死于寒冷。到3月初,又有六人去世。她总共失去了13个病人。
It was 20 degrees Fahrenheit inside the building, even colder outside. There was no heat, no electricity, no running water and little food. Borodianka was under siege, after all.
大楼里的温度是摄氏零下6度,外面更冷。没有暖气,没有电,没有自来水,食物也很少。毕竟,博罗季安卡是被围困的状态。
“We started drinking water from the pond,” Ms. Hanitska said. “We all got sick.”
“我们开始喝池塘里的水,”哈尼茨卡说。“我们都病了。”
The Chechen contingent mysteriously withdrew the same day it arrived, after making the propaganda video, but other Russians took their place. They did not allow anyone to leave the compound, even to search for food, and they ringed the building with artillery, mortars and heavy guns, knowing the Ukrainians would be reluctant to hit it.
车臣特遣队制作了宣传视频后,在抵达的当天就神秘地撤离了,但其他俄罗斯人取代了他们的位置。他们不允许任何人离开这座建筑,即使是寻找食物也不允许。他们把火炮、迫击炮等重武器摆在这座建筑周围,因为他们知道乌克兰人不会愿意袭击它。
“We became human shields,” said Taisia Tyschkevych, the home’s accountant.
“我们成了人肉盾牌,”这里的会计泰西亚·泰斯科维奇说。
The Russians took everyone’s phone. Or almost everyone’s.
俄罗斯人拿走了所有人的手机。或者说几乎所有人的。
Ms. Hanitska said she hid hers and used it to communicate secretly. She would peek out the window of the nurse’s office and spot Russian vehicles, she said, and then text the details to Ukrainian forces. “They were hitting the Russians,” she said. “If we hadn’t done this, the fighting would be happening in Kyiv.”
哈尼茨卡说,她把手机藏起来,用它来进行秘密通信。她说,她会从护士办公室的窗户往外看,发现俄罗斯车辆,就把详细情况发给乌克兰军队。“他们在打击俄罗斯人,”她说。“如果我们不这么做,战斗就会发生在基辅。”
Many Ukrainian civilians have helped like this, Ukrainian officials said.
乌克兰官员说,许多乌克兰平民都提供了这样的帮助。
While she was spying on the Russians, Ms. Hanitska also cooked meals on a fire outside, hustled patients into the basement when the artillery became deafening, set up sleeping spaces in the corridors for dozens more people who fled the bombed buildings in town and flocked to her facility for shelter, and more than anything else, helped calm everyone’s nerves.
在监视俄罗斯人的同时,哈尼茨卡还在外面生火做饭,在炮声震耳欲聋时把病人赶到地下室,在走廊上为另外几十个逃离镇上被炸建筑物、涌向疗养院寻求庇护的人安排睡觉的地方,更重要的是,帮助大家冷静下来。
On March 13, Ms. Hanitska peered out the same window and for the first time in weeks saw something that lifted her heart: a convoy of yellow buses. She burst out the gate.
3月13日,哈尼茨卡从同一扇窗户向外望去,几周来第一次看到了让她振奋的东西:一队黄色巴士。她冲出大门。
“I was either going to get shot,” she said. “Or save people.”
“我要么挨枪子儿,”她说。“要么去救人。”
Humanitarian workers had organized a rescue and the Russians finally allowed the patients to leave. They were bused to other facilities in less contested areas.
人道主义工作人员组织了救援,俄罗斯人最终允许病人离开。他们被巴士送往战斗没那么激烈的地方。
Ms. Hanitska is tough but humble with a dry sense of humor.
哈尼茨卡强硬但很谦逊,说话有点冷幽默。
When asked how long she had been working at the home, she laughed.
当被问及她在这家疗养院工作了多久时,她笑了。
“Two months,” she said. “I guess you could say I’m lucky.”
“两个月,”她说。“我想你可以说我很幸运。”