YAHIDNE, Ukraine (AP) The Russian soldiers forced more than 300 villagers into a school basement. Then, during weeks of stress and deprivation, some began to die.

Residents of Yahidne, a village 140 kilometers (87 miles) from Kyiv, told The Associated Press about being ordered into the basement at gunpoint after the Russians took control of the area around the northern city of Chernihiv in early March.

In one room, those who survived wrote the names of the 18 who didnt.

An old man died near me and then his wife died next, Valentyna Saroyan, a weary survivor, recalled Tuesday as she toured the darkened basement. Then a man died who was lying there, then a woman sitting next to me. She was a heavy woman, and it was very difficult for her.