Ukraine: How this woman’s trip from her grandmother’s house changed her life forever
In May last year, we stood in the grounds of what had been a mass grave of the residents of Bucha – just a month after the city was liberated from invading Russian forces.
Tetiana Sichkar, then just 20 years old, told us how the occupation had affected her life in the most unimaginable way.
Today, she takes us to the edge of a forest where a war crime devastated her life.
On 24 March last year, Tetiana and her 46-year-old mother, also called Tetiana, made the short trip home from her grandmother’s house – the only place with a working gas stove and a wood fire – through the woods along a railway line.
They wore white tape on their arms to signify to the Russian troops they were civilians. They were not a threat.
Unbeknownst to anyone, in just seven days, Bucha would be free again.
But as the two Tetianas walked that Thursday a loud crack pierced the quiet between the trees.
“Suddenly I heard a very loud gunshot,” the young woman says.
“Then I saw something, maybe blood, maybe a bullet.”
She remembers telling everyone to get down, and falling to the ground. Shaking her mother’s leg, there was no response.
“There was blood everywhere. Her eyes were still open and she was just staring. And I started to scream. I screamed for maybe five minutes.”
Does she know where the shot came from? Tetiana is not sure.
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Powerful images from the last year
She gestures to her right, through the thickest part of the forest.
“My father believes it was over here, because that is where the Russians were.”
She points to a white building ahead and says calmly: “The sniper was on the second floor there.”
Staring at the upstairs window it is hard to believe Tetiana’s composure while rooted to the spot of such a tragedy.
A short distance away, we are led to the grave of her mother.
Tetiana Sichkar at the grave of her mother
She says the funeral arrangements were a blur.
Before the Russians were pushed out of Bucha, they gave her mother’s body back in a stolen car and she was buried first in her garden, before a rush of ceremonies took place at a cemetery when it was safe again.
There are hundreds of graves with less than a foot between them – the site has been the final resting place for so many long before the Russian invasion.
A map of the conflict on the one-year anniversary
Tetiana, now 21, shows us a picture of her and her mum, the most important woman in her life.
“Of course, I miss her most because she was the closest one to me,” she says – her life must be so hard now. “Life is hard. But it goes on.”
She is studying computer programming from her flat in another part of Bucha, but takes trips into Kyiv to meet the woman who is helping her fight for justice.
Tetiana pictured with human rights lawyer, Oksana Mykhalevych
Oksana Mykhalevych, 36, is a lawyer who has been prosecuting human rights abuses since the Maidan Uprising in 2014, when 100 activists and 13 police officers were killed during demonstrations against then-president Viktor Yanukovych.
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She has pages of documents neatly sorted in plastic sleeves in a bright red folder, and will help Tetiana liaise with the official war crimes investigators who have been given support from legal systems around the world, including the UK.
Oksana outlines that they want Ukrainian police to stage a reconstruction next month to at least establish exactly where that fatal shot came from – so they can perhaps identify the Russian military unit involved.
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They will then go after the commanders. “Someone should take responsibility,” she tells us.
Tetiana admits that the Russian military personnel who occupied Bucha may have been sent to another battlefront in the country and may have met their fate at the hands of Ukrainian soldiers.
“It is very likely that that person is already dead. But if that person is still alive, I believe that I will see him in a court. And maybe I’ll ask him what made him do that to my family”.
A police officer has been injured after a night of violent protests outside an asylum hotel in Dublin – with six arrests made.
Bricks were thrown and fireworks were discharged outside the Citywest Hotel – with glass bottles used as missiles and a police van set on fire.
A Garda helicopter was also targeted with lasers, and the police service says some of those on the streets were seen carrying garden forks.
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Commissioner Justin Kelly added: “This was obviously not a peaceful protest. The actions this evening can only be described as thuggery. This was a mob intent on violence.
“We will now begin the process of identifying those who committed crimes and we will bring those involved in this violence to justice.”
It is the second night of demonstrations after an alleged sexual assault in its vicinity in the early hours of Monday morning.
Some of the crowd threw stones and other missiles at the public order officers as they moved the protesters back – and water cannon was deployed at the scene.
A line of officers was preventing the protesters from approaching the hotel.
Police officers block protesters outside the hotel. Pic: PA
‘Those involved will be brought to justice’
Ireland’s premier, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, paid tribute to the officers who were on the frontline of the protests.
“There can be no justification for the vile abuse against them, or the attempted assaults and attacks on members of the force that will shock all right-thinking people,” he said.
Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan said those involved in the violence will be brought to justice.
“The scenes of public disorder we have witnessed at Citywest must be condemned,” he said.
“People threw missiles at Gardai, threw fireworks at them and set a Garda vehicle on fire.
“This is unacceptable and will result in a forceful response from the Gardai.
“Those involved will be brought to justice.”
‘No excuse’ for violence
The minister said a man had been arrested and had appeared in court in relation to the alleged assault in the vicinity of the hotel.
He added: “While I am not in a position to comment any further on this criminal investigation, I have been advised that there is no ongoing threat to public safety in the area.”
He said attacks on officers would “not be tolerated”, adding: “Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. Violence is not.
“There is no excuse for the scenes we have witnessed.”
The demonstration on Monday night passed without a significant incident.
It comes two years after anti-immigrant demonstrators triggered a major riot in the centre of Dublin after three young children were stabbed.
A police van has been set on fire and missiles have been thrown at officers as protesters gathered outside a hotel used to house asylum seekers in Dublin.
It is the second night of demonstrations outside the Citywest Hotel after an alleged sexual assault in its vicinity in the early hours of Monday morning.
A large crowd has gathered in the area and members of the Garda’s public order unit have been deployed.
Footage from the scene showed a Garda vehicle on fire as well as several protesters displaying Irish flags.
Many protesters carried Republic of Ireland flags
Some of the crowd threw stones and other missiles at the public order officers as they moved the protesters back.
A Garda helicopter hovered overhead and a water cannon was deployed on the scene.
Ireland’s justice minister, Jim O’Callaghan, said those involved will be brought to justice.
“The scenes of public disorder we have witnessed at Citywest tonight must be condemned,” he said.
“People threw missiles at Gardai, threw fireworks at them and set a Garda vehicle on fire.
“This is unacceptable and will result in a forceful response from the Gardai.
“Those involved will be brought to justice.”
The minister said a man had been arrested and had appeared in court in relation to the alleged assault in the vicinity of the hotel.
He added: “While I am not in a position to comment any further on this criminal investigation, I have been advised that there is no ongoing threat to public safety in the area.
He said attacks on gardai will “not be tolerated”, adding: “Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. Violence is not.
“There is no excuse for the scenes we have witnessed tonight.”
It was the second night of protest outside the hotel, which is being used as state accommodation for people seeking international protection. The demonstration on Monday night passed without a significant incident.
It comes two years after anti-immigrant demonstrators triggered a major riot in the centre of Dublin after three young children were stabbed.
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There are no plans for Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to meet in person in the near future, according to a White House official.
The presidents last week agreed to meet in Budapest after a phone call Mr Trump called “extremely frank and trustful”.
The US leader suggested it was possible it could happen within a fortnight, though no date was set.
However, it appears that’s now off the table – and there are fears the meeting could be shelved altogether due to Russia‘s rigid stance on the Ukraine war.
The White House official, speaking to Sky’s US partner network NBC, said secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had spoken on Tuesday.
The call was described as “productive” but the official added there was no plan for the presidents to meet “in the immediate future”.
The last Trump-Putin meeting was in Alaska in August, but it ended without any meaningful progress towards a ceasefire.
The Budapest plan was announced shortly before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Washington last Friday to try to get approval for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
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Why Tomahawks are off the table
Mr Zelenskyy accused the Russian leader of acting out of fear Ukraine could get the green light and the ability to hit targets far deeper into Russia.
In his nightly address on Tuesday, he said Russia “almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy” after it became clear Mr Trump had backed away from any decision on the Tomahawks.
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Professor Michael Clarke answers your questions on the Ukraine war.
Two US officials told Reuters that plans for the Budapest meeting had stalled over Russia’s insistence any peace deal must give it control of all of the Donbas region.
Those terms are said to have been reiterated over the weekend in a private communique known as a “no paper”.
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The Kremlin’s refusal to budge effectively rejects Mr Trump’s latest assessment that the frontlines should be frozen as they are.
The president shifted position last week after previously telling the UN General Assembly that Ukraine could win back all the land it has lost.
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Ukraine and European nations issued a joint statement on Tuesday insisting “international borders must not be changed by force” and accusing Russia of “stalling tactics”.
But, in an apparent effort to keep the US leader onside, it added: “We strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.”
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Trump: ‘We can end this war quickly’
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave the impression his country was in no rush to arrange another Trump-Putin meeting, saying on Tuesday “preparation is needed, serious preparation”.
Such talk is likely to increase concerns Russia does not want to stop fighting and is “playing” President Trump – all while continuing to launch drone barrages at Ukrainian cities.
Russia currently holds about a fifth of Ukraine after its invasion in February in 2022. It also annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
Meanwhile, NATO’s secretary general Mark Rutte is travelling to Washington to meet with President Trump on Wednesday.
He will “discuss various aspects related to NATO’s support to Ukraine and to the US-led efforts towards lasting peace”, an official for the alliance said.
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