West of Kyiv, a Russian unit led by Syria veterans set up camp and began a drunken, murderous campaign
A dog came bounding over as Oleh Bondarenko walked towards the garden containing the burned-out house where he had been beaten, tortured and left to die. “Hey, friend,” he shouted, stroking her head and explaining the affectionate greeting. “I talked to her a lot when I was here”.
He lost several teeth to Russian assaults, his torso is covered with scars, and the damage to his spine may be permanent. But his sense of humour has somehow emerged unscathed from a days-long ordeal at the hands of Russian soldiers who served in Syria before bringing some of the horrors of that war to the once-bucolic countryside outside Kyiv.