THE HORROR OF OCCUPATION FOR ONE VILLAGE

DEAD sunflowers line the road into a snowy Ukrainian village that has suffered occupation by Russia.

- BY SIMON MURPHY

Grandmother Nina Zhdanyuk hopes for prosperity once the fighting stops

(NINA ZHDANYUK ON THE RUSSIAN INVADERS)

But despite the hardship of the Russian takeover, life here has endured so it might one day bloom again.

Faint booms and gunfire in the distance serve as a soundtrack to our visit to Kramarivka in Kharkiv Oblast, northeast Ukraine.

Military training takes place nearby, we are told, but to the untuned ear it’s hard to tell the difference.

The frontline is now about 20 miles away, but this village was once a scene of terror.

Grandmother Nina Zhdaniyuk, 71, who has lived here her whole life, recalled the pain of Kremlin rule.

She told of effectively being under house arrest, and how the village's men were deliberately humiliated.

Nina said: "Russians entered our village on heavy vehicles with faces hidden.

"People were scared and hiding.

"Russians have been moving in horrible convoys and I thought they were going to ruin our village."

She added: "They [the Russians] are f****** animals.

"They did not allow us to leave the village.

"We were locked in our houses.

"They stripped the men naked, even people with disabilities, and searched their bodies for traces of gunshot."

This is an apparent reference to bruising left by the butt of an automatic rifle hitting the shoulder when firing - a sign men might be soldiers.