Ukraine War: Children hold toy guns at checkpoints, while body hunters search for dead Russian soldiers | World News

Through the dust, I could see the brake lights of a truck we were following, lit.

It’s another checkpoint. We spent six or seven hours on our way to the front lines of Ukrainian forces, northeast of Kharkiv, Ukrainesecond largest city.

I suddenly straightened up. The checkpoint is being controlled by a group of children. Not young soldiers, I mean real kids, with what looks like guns.

Startled, I took a closer look as the dust settled.

The Kalashnikov in the hand of a boy is a toy. His friend has a pistol, a small black toy BB gun. I’m not sure if I want to laugh or cry.

On one level, the boys stopping and questioning the soldiers and foreign media is hilarious, on the other, it’s downright tragedy.

We went out to chat with them in the blazing sun, the firecrackers a few miles away ringing incessantly all around us.

We were less than seven miles from the Russian tanks and artillery, but the boys told us that they went out every day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to defend their village, or rather what remaining after the fighting caused the Russian army to be pushed back.

‘They raped a woman in school’

They lived through all this, Nazar, their leader told me. With great fortitude, he said that he was no longer afraid.

He was used to fighting, bombing, killing, brutality.

“They raped a woman in the school, there were a lot of children and women hiding in the basement,” he told me.

“They take them out and move them in, and they light torches through people’s windows at night. And every day there are tanks and cars passing by.”

Think how shocking that statement really is. Nazar is 10 years old.

Nazar confided in us that passing cars were stopped and drivers were asked to say two Ukrainian words – words that are difficult to say in Russian – to determine if they could pass.

The words are ‘Ukrazaliznitsa’ and ‘Palianitsa’. One is from the Ukrainian railway company, the other is Ukrainian bread.

‘Next time we won’t be tolerant’

As we chatted, a car sped down the hill to their checkpoint. With the confidence of a gunman, Nazar marked it down and answered his well-rehearsed word question.

In fact, Ukrainian soldiers did the same thing.

The driver repeated the two words respectfully, Nazar took him on.

‘It worked!’ I cried. “Of course,” replied Nazar.

I asked him if they had ever caught a Russian.

“Yes,” he said, deadly serious. “One driver failed the test, but we let him pass,” he quickly added.

“Next time we won’t be so lenient.”

This war is crazy.

Hunt for dead Russian soldiers

We ran into the boys when we were looking for dead Russian soldiers.

In charge of this strange body-hunting team is Vadym, a professional soldier in the Ukrainian army.

With him were two volunteers, Maxim and Stas, as well as a pair of brothers famous in these departments for their ability to find bodies.

So far Vadym’s team has recovered 80 Russian soldiers and 20 civilians. The brothers found 16 bodies on their own.

They only removed dead Russian soldiers from the battlefield.

Civilian deaths are handled by the police because the place where they die is a potentially crime scene.

It’s a macabre job, but Vadym knows it’s important.

“That’s obviously important for hygiene, but this way we can swap them out for Ukrainian men, dead or alive.”

He told us that by collecting the bodies, they were also gathering evidence that the Russian soldiers were indeed on their territory and that the Ukrainian army fought back.

‘He’s not going anywhere’

The first place Vadym and his helpers searched was in the village of Sorokivka.

One of the residents, 53-year-old Olha, called to say there was a suspicious smell coming from the field across the street from her house – she was worried dead bodies were buried there.

The brothers Yurii and Volodia took it out and started digging. But they found nothing, so we continued.

The military relies on locals reporting strong odors or suspicious behavior by the Russians as they occupy the territory.

We meet a farmer in Verhnia Rohanka, a nearby village, who believes she knows where Vadym and his team can find more bodies.

Svitlana Borisova takes us to the edge of her farm and points to a hillside that the Russians have used as a base.

She said that the diggers had continuously worked there throughout their career. It could be a mass grave, she said.

Vadym and his team aren’t convinced but tell her they’ll test it anyway.

He came back to us and said that the road to the Russian location was already tapped, and that was a regular problem for them. We have to go around.

Once there Vadym searched the area immediately – it had no bodies.

All we can see are the burned armored personnel carriers, and in the trenches a Russian military-issued helmet with a large hole in it, a couple of boots and some holsters. Used Russian meal packages.

One of the men picks up a packet of coffee. “It’s Russian, it’s ****,” he said.

Just before we left Vadym discovered another Russian location hidden in the woods.

He carefully followed the path along the trees, paying attention to the landmines.

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And then he saw him, the body of a Russian soldier, and said there could be more.

I asked him if they would deliver it tonight.

“We’re not going to do anything today, we’ll find him, we’ll collect him tomorrow, he’s not going anywhere,” he answered matter-of-factly.

The war is far from over and it could easily return here. The shelling continued unabated.

Many important dates have come and gone, but the only one that really matters here is the day when the war really ended.