Zelensky Honors Villagers Who Lived in a Basement for Nearly a Month at the Start of the Invasion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude today, Monday, for the bravery of about 400 residents of a village in northern Ukraine who were held in the basement of a school for 27 days under Russian occupation last year. The Ukrainian president traveled to the village of Yahidne, located in the Chernihiv region, where he delivered an emotional speech about the villagers being trapped in a space of less than 200 square meters during the first month of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Zelensky stated that 11 people died during the ordeal. Signs of emotion were evident on Zelensky's face as he commemorated the occasion, saying, "They lived and waited for Ukraine in the dark in a way... they lived standing and sitting." The Ukrainian president also appeared in the regional capital Chernihiv to bestow upon it the title of "Hero City." The defenders of the city repelled Russian attempts to seize it in the first month of Moscow's invasion. Zelensky told the gathering of soldiers and officials, "The world saw that Ukraine was able to emerge from this war victorious... here the world's belief in Ukraine was confirmed."