Thread by @WilliamYang120

Russian forces took apartment buildings and allegedly held residents hostage in their own homes: “We saw the Russian infantry on the security camera of our building,” he said. “From that moment, the Russians stayed.” #Ukraine nytimes.com/2022/03/20/wor…

“They made around 200 residents stay too, holding many of them hostage in the basements of their own buildings, forcing them to hand over their phones and taking over their apartments.

Others were able to avoid detection but still were essentially prisoners in their own homes as Russian forces moved into the buildings, which had housed 560 families, and took up sniping positions.”

“It was really scary,” said Lesya Borodyuk, a 49-year-old resident, tearing up at one point as she spoke. “I wrote to my daughter. I was saying goodbye to her. I told her that probably we will be bombed now.”

“Outside in the parking lot, security cameras showed at least a dozen Russian troops and infantry fighting vehicles. Soldiers shuttled heavy machine guns and forced a man inside a building at gunpoint.”

“Ksenia, who asked to be identified only by her first name, watched with her husband and children from their second-floor window as Russian forces arrived at their building.
“We didn’t know what could happen to us,” she said. “It was just a total state of fear.”

“One group of soldiers used rifles to smash open the front door of an apartment building. Once inside, they entered the elevator and destroyed its security cameras. In some buildings, soldiers went floor by floor tearing doors off hinges and raiding apartments, residents said.”

“People were kicked out of the apartments,” said Elena Anishchenko, who was planning to celebrate her 33rd birthday with neighbors the day the soldiers arrived. “They didn’t ask anyone anything, they would just tell them to go to the basement.”

“Many of the residents had their phones and laptops confiscated or destroyed.
“They told us — ‘Don’t be mad at us, but if we find your phone, you will be shot on the spot,’” Ms. Anishchenko said.

“Cut off from the outside world, Ms. Anishchenko said she couldn’t read the news or speak to her family.
Some residents like Ksenia were able to remain in their homes — perhaps because she had an infant.”

“Others went unnoticed. Mr. Naumenko and his wife hid on the seventh floor of their building. He still had his phone, which he would turn on once a day to text his family that he was still alive.”