mean, it s eviscerated. if there is a building in this village that hasn t been damaged in the this fighting we haven t seen it yet. translator: boom, boom, boom. fire, fire. it was everywhere. it s nightmare. reporter: valentina has lived in moschun for years and has never known war until it landed on her doorstep and forced her down into a neighbor s basement. how scared were you? translator: we were very scared. my heart was beating very fast. we thought we would die there. the russians fight indiscriminately. reporter: the fighting only eased when russia withdrew from the entire kyiv region. valentina emerging from the basement to find shell casings in her garden and whatever else the russians left behind. so, all these things, she says, the russians left behind. a cup of some kind here.
ground. a microcosm perhaps of the country in which it lies. matt rivers, cnn, moschun, ukraine. joining me now is a research fe fellow. and thank you for taking the time to speak to us. let me get your thoughts on what we heard from western officials that they believe that vladimir putin could formally declare war on ukraine as soon as may 9. what would that mean in reality? first of all, it is also the opinion much our intelligence services so a scenario that we are taking into account. of course it would be a factor in this war because it would mean mobilization of people and economy. but in the end with the statement made by the u.s. secretary of defense lloyd austin last week that we need to
reporter: this woman has lived in moschun for years and has never known war until it landed on her doorstep and forced her down into a neighbor s basement. how scared were you? translator: we were very scared. my heart was beating very fast. we thought we would die there. the russians fired indiscriminately. reporter: the fighting only eased when russia withdrew from the entire kyiv region. she emerged from the basement to find shell casings in her garden and whatever else the russians left behind. so all these things she says the russians left behind, so this washing your hands, another cup of some kind here, this some sort of life jacket that the russians used. and even here you ve got old meal boxes everyone with certain things left inside there that you can see. for nearly two months after the fighting, residents stayed away.
in this fighting, we haven t seen it yet. translator: boom, boom, boom, fire, fire. it was everywhere. it s nightmare. reporter: valentina has lived in moschun for years and has never known war until it landed on her doorstep and forced her into a neighbor s doorstep. how scared were you? translator: we were very scared. my heart was beating very fast. we thought we would die there. the russians fired indiscriminately. reporter: the fighting only eased when russia withdrew from the entire kyiv region. valentina, emerging from the basement to find shell casings in her garden and whatever else the russians left behind. so, all these things, she says the russians left behind. so, this for watching your hands. another cup of some kind here. this some sort of life jacket that the russians use.
the ukrainian village of moschun, an effigy swings in the breeze. people hate russia here, because of what it did. the tiny town northwest of kyiv has been leveled. russian bombings, rockets, bullets destroyed street after street after street. this was the site of some of the most intense fighting of the war so far. on their drive toward kyiv, the russians attacked soldiers and civilians alike here. ukrainian bunkers alongside ordinary houses shelled relentlessly to devastating effect. this was probably somebody s kitchen. you can see there s an oven there, some pots and pans, a microwave. i mean, this isn t a big city, but the scale of destruction in this village is on par with anything else we ve seen across ukraine, i mean, this house gets hit with artillery, there s a sub kwent fire and just look, i