Accustomed to tears of despair since the Russian army occupied her village of Troitské, in eastern Ukraine, Olga Valkova could not contain those of relief when troops from kyiv recaptured it.
On the face of this 64-year-old woman, deliverance. She kisses and hugs her brother, Leonid Kandaourov, four years her junior, and her sister-in-law Lidia, whom she finds after more than six months of separation.
Nestled in fields of sunflowers, Troitské is only 80 kilometers from the Russian border, in the Kharkiv region, and had been occupied by the Russian army since February 25, the day after the start of the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
When the Russian army arrived, “it was terrifying. The soldiers, posted on the armored vehicles, pointed their weapons at us, at our houses. It was a real occupation,” says one of her friends. “They entered our homes, checked our documents, searched everywhere, absolutely everywhere.”