'Now he knows what death is': The children who survived Bucha's horror

The Russians used a children’s camp in Bucha as an execution ground, and bloodstains and bullet holes mark a basement.

In the courtyard of their house, Vlad Tanyuk, 6, stands near the grave of his mother Maryna Tanyuk, who died because of starvation and stress due to the war. Picture: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd

The coffin was made from pieces of a closet. In a darkened basement under a building shaking from the bombardment of war, there were few other options.

Six-year-old Vlad watched as his mother was carried out of the shelter last month and to the yard of a nearby home. The burial was hurried and devastating.