What Natasha Romanenko Experienced When Russian Troops Occupied Her Town

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, Natasha Romanenko lived in her root cellar for a month to avoid Russian soldiers. In the final days of the occupation, Natasha says she ventured out to milk her cow when she was briefly held at gunpoint by a Russian soldier who accused her of scouting Russian troop locations.

When Russian forces invaded and occupied her town, according to Ukrainian officials, Russia targeted civilian areas and left hundreds missing. Now, President Biden is accusing Putin and his forces of war crimes — including genocide.

This episode: congressional correspondent Susan Davis, White House correspondent Scott Detrow, and senior political editor and correspondent Ron Elving.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's the MPR Politics Podcast.
0:06.8	It is 12-10 pm on Thursday, April 14.
0:11.4	I'm Susan Davis, I cover Congress.
0:13.3	I'm Scott Detro, I cover the White House, and I'm Ron Elving, Editor-Coresponded.
0:17.9	And today on the podcast, we're going to talk about the latest from Ukraine.
0:21.6	We'll be talking about war as well as alleged war crimes, so a warning for anyone who might
0:26.6	be listening with kids or is not in a place to hear this content.
0:31.5	Scott, you just got back from a reporting trip in Ukraine.
0:34.6	You were there for about two weeks.
0:37.3	Talk to us about where you went and the things that you were reporting on.
0:40.8	Yeah, I was there with all things considered.
0:45.0	And we really went all over the western part of the country.
0:47.9	That was the original plan.
0:49.2	We spent a lot of time in Levyve in a city called Ivano-Frankivs.
0:53.0	We weren't planning to go to Kiev because at the time the trip began, there was a lot
0:57.9	of fierce fighting just north of Kiev in the town's north of the city.
1:02.3	But as I was there, the Russians drastically pulled back.
1:07.6	They ended up withdrawing all of the troops that they had been trying to get to the capital
1:11.9	of Ukraine with.
1:14.2	And that created a condition where NPR thought it was safe to go there and to get a first
1:21.1	hand look at the total and complete devastation and talk to people who hid in their homes
1:26.8	for a month about what it was like and to be able to do that reporting in the immediate
	...

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