Ukrainian Villagers Form Human Shield To Stop Russian Soldier From Raping Young Woman

Residents of a Ukrainian village previously occupied by Russian forces formed a human shield around a woman to protect her from a Russian soldier, whom they believed wanted to rape her.

At least 350 adults and 76 children were held hostage in the school basement in Yahidne following the Russian occupation of the village on March 3, TODAY reported.

"All people were very frightened, and didn't speak much. We were all just praying to God and asking God to help," said 56-year-old Valentyna Lohvynchuk, who was part of the group of villagers rounded up by Russian forces.

The villagers were only allowed outside to cook on open fires or use the toilet, the Associated Press has learned.

One evening, a drunk Russian soldier descended into the basement and demanded a young Ukrainian woman go with him, Lohvynchuk said.

The villagers formed a human shield around the woman as they feared the soldier wanted to rape her.

"We were all around her. We started asking him, begging him, imploring him. Thank God, he listened to us, and he left her alone," Lohvynchuk recalled.

Russian forces later locked the basement's doors and barricaded the villagers from the outside on March 30.

Some of the Ukrainian men trapped in the basement were able to force the doors open at around 6:30 p.m. that day. The group then found that the school and the whole of Yahidne had been deserted. Ukrainian forces arrived at the village the next day.

The Russian soldiers, who reportedly left behind unexploded artillery shells and destroyed Russian vehicles, allegedly disclosed Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to the villagers before their withdrawal, according to Lohvynchuk.

"His plan was to have our village inhabited by the Tuva Republic in Russia. That Ukrainians must be exterminated — no place for them to live here — and Russians would take this land. That was Putin's plan," Lohvynchuk said.

The elderly survivor now lives with her daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters after a group of volunteers helped her travel to Yahotyn, a city near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

While Lohvynchuk is now safe from the Russians, her experiences from their occupation of Yahidne will forever stay with her.

"I have not come back to my senses since this experience... [M]y daughter took me to the ophthalmologist, and my eyesight has deteriorated. I believe it's from the stress," she said.

Lohvynchuk's claims could not be independently verified.

At least 20 people died during Russia's month-long occupation of Yahidne, including 11 elderly villagers who passed away in the school basement.