I was forced to hide in cellar for weeks as Russian troops destroyed my village - but beautiful Manchester has saved me

17.05.2022 - 09:01 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Children laughed as they climbed on the Vimto sculpture in the university's northern campus while their parents learned about the city's iconic drink. It's a far cry away from the horrors their nation has seen over recent months.

Julia Grinenko has been living in Heywood for just over three weeks after spending days travelling from her home village of Ozera, to the north east of Kyiv, through Hungary to get to Manchester. She spent 16 days living under Russian occupation, and half of her village has since been left destroyed.

Her family remain in the village which Russian soldiers have left a shell of its former self. Her mood now, speaking in a sun-lit Sackville Gardens in Manchester City Centre, is completely changed to how it was just a few months ago, when her and her family spent 16 days in their cellar hiding from drunken Russian soldiers.

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"They came into our house and took everything," the 27-year-old told the Manchester Evening News . "We sat in the cellar and hid because we were absolutely terrified. Half of the village is now gone because it was completely bombed.

"The noise from their tanks was so powerful, which they kept in our gardens. We had to sleep in the cellar without any water, heating, or power. All our phone lines were cut off and if a soldier came into your home and saw a phone they would shoot it.

"A lot of older men died in our village when it was occupied from heart attacks because it was so frightening what was happening. I remember my grandmother screaming so much when the soldiers first came because of the horrible memories it gave her of the Second