Life between bullets: As told by Valentyna Oleshko, head of Pisky village in Chernihiv region.

     Valentyna Oleshko, head of Pisky village of Bobrovytsia Territorial Community in Chernihiv region, mentally said goodbye to her life when she led a group of negotiators with the Russian occupiers on March 9.

     -I have already lived my life, I have children and grandchildren, but I had to save a young boy, - Valentyna Ivanivna recalls. – The poor fellow with his girlfriend and her friend went to congratulate his mother on Women's Day and happened to be under shelling. He pushed the girls so that they fell to the ground, but he was late to do that and was seriously wounded.      A local vet provided first aid, but Oleh needed very serious medical care.      His life counted for hours, and a "green corridor" was needed to deliver the seriously wounded person to at least some medical facility. The villagers advised the mother to see the occupiers. The woman was in such a state that she could not have been released alone. So, I led a group of negotiators, the girl`s mother, who was with Oleh at the time, joined us. People advised us to go with a white flag.      Tears appeared in Valentyna Ivanivna's eyes, but she quickly pulled herself together. She admitted that she did not have much fear, although she had already learned how negotiations with the strangers could end... She still had spiritual strength to drive away the worst-case scenario - to die prematurely.      And the Lord apparently heard her prayers, because the occupiers did listen to the women and offered the unexpected: to operate on the wounded in their hospital, because, as they said, they could not provide passage to the territory, which was not under their control. The mother agreed. On their way home, she scolded herself all the way for leaving the child to unknown persons, yet the enemy. At the same time, she justified herself: how could she allow her son to die in her arms. She did not have ny third option.      -One wouldn't wish the enemy to go through what the mother did after she had given her wounded son to someone unknown, - the village head continued her story. - After days and nights of waiting, news came from as far as from Kursk in Russia - a nurse of the hospital Oleh was in called. She was born in Zaporizhzhia region and cared for the boy. After that, the leaders of Kyiv staff, Oleh had been working with before the war, became interested in his further fate. With joint efforts, they managed to get the wounded back to receive further medical treatment in the territory of Ukraine. Now he is in a rehabilitation center of Lviv. However, the rehabilitation course is very expensive, so funds are being raised from everywhere.      Now Oleh Tymoshenko moves around in a wheelchair, his left hand does not move, his complete body aches immensely, fortunately, his brain is not damaged and there is hope for recovery. This hope is stimulated by his girlfriend, who is on duty next to the groom.     The occupiers mastered the village for a month. A lot of damage was made to the production site of agricultural association "Zemlya i Volya", several production facilities were destroyed, and several pieces of equipment were crushed. In the center of the village, tanks and armored personnel carriers drove into the square, where there used to be a church burnt down by the German fascist sat the end of 1942, when the whole village was also burnt, 800 civilians were killed with bullets and fire. They were allegedly taking revenge for a German invader killed by partisans near the village. Now there is a monument to the victims of Nazism. For some reason, it stood in the way of the new occupiers - they damaged the monument, which reminds of the 80-year tragedy of Pisky.     A few meters away, there lies a burnt-out car "Volga"; in the weeds. It was shelled together with driver Mykola Melnychuk, a summer resident, when he was driving to fetch milk from owners, he was familiar with. Eyewitnesses say that the neighbors advised him not to go, because on that day, March 28, the occupiers were pulling out. The shelling of the car, which caught fire, almost triggered a large fire. An old housemate woman raised an alarm, and the fire was extinguished. They say that even one occupier rushed to save the woman`s house.      -I worried about the community council building, the culture house, and above all - for the historical museum, - Valentina Ivanivna admits. - In my office, everything was scattered, turned upside down, as they say. A good printer and all data carriers were taken, three stage costumes were thrown from the closet onto the floor, and some stationery items disappeared.     Nothing valuable was stolen from the culture house, and they did not get inside the historical museum, although there were traces of the locks being broken. It can be seen that they were in a hurry to leave the village. They also rummaged in the school like pigs in a garden. In a word, they displayed their "quoting civilization". But the most important thing is that they left us without much bloodshed.     Even two prisoners, who were taken on suspicion of partisanship, returned alive. They were taken, together with other prisoners, to several settlements, then they were locked in some large room similar to a barn, and when a mess before the escape began, a soldier unlocked the door and ordered everyone to run in any direction they could. It took the boys two days, under the cover of night, to reach Pisky - it was scary to look at them when they arrived.     After the occupation, life in the village is getting gradually back to normalcy. A summer resident, whose house had been burnt down from shelling, built temporary housing, the "Zemlya i Volya" association helped free of charge with sand, crushed stone, and transport. So far, a pensioner, a former forester and another injured summer resident have not started repairing their houses yet.     The production area of ​​the underlying economy has been put in order, local farmers and owners of the retail chain are recovering from the occupation. No resident of Pisky has been suspected of collaborating with the occupiers. Everyone, in his or her place, cared not to repeat the fate of the village 80 years ago, when even individual corrupt fellow villagers took part in the punitive operation, eventried very hard to curry favor with the Nazis.     The occupiers also resorted to distributing propaganda leaflets in the village, - head recalls. – However, that campaign material was being distributed by an unknown woman specially brought to the village. Our people behaved so dignified that there was not even an attempt to involve someone in that work. On the contrary, everyone was working closely to relocate a large family from the outskirts of the village, where enemy equipment was stationed, to the center, where one could count on the help of fellow villagers. By the way, thanks to such mutual assistance, I have not heard of any family seriously starving.     For the time being, head of the village is most concerned about the problem of providing people with drinking water. Many households have private wells, some have deepened them, but many also relied on wells, which are now without water. Such are the consequences of Khrushchev's wetland reclamation and drainage. At first, it maintained the required level of groundwater, but when the metal gates on the gateway were stolen, the reclamation network was neglected, the problem with the water level in the wells began to worsen, and the natural ponds in the village and beyond dried up. The problem could not be fixed in one day, and manna will not fall from the sky either, so they must roll up their sleeves as a group.     By the way, this problem is also being worked on in neighboring Stara Basan`. Head of the village Lidiia Yerep shows a new deep well drilled a few days ago in the center, near the village council building. The agricultural association "Zemlya i Volya" purchased a pump for it. Seven thousand hryvnias for the equipment of the well were transferred by caring fellow-countrimen from Kyiv.     According to head of the village, this source of water supply is also necessary in case of emergency, fire. There was also a shortage of drinking water in the center of the village.      As you can see, life between bullets did not depress our people, did not force them to give up, on the contrary, it prompted them to remember an ancient wisdom: "Work softens grief."       By Hryhorii VOITOK, writer and journalist      Avthor's photo: Valentyna Oleshko, head of Pisky village of Bobrovytsia Territorial Community in the Chernihiv region