Staryi Bykiv () is a village in

Nizhyn Raion Nizhyn Raion () is a Raions of Ukraine, raion (district) of Chernihiv Oblast, northern Ukraine. Its administrative centre is located at Nizhyn. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions ...

Chernihiv Oblast Chernihiv Oblast (), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. There are 1,511 sett ...

of northern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It belongs to

Nova Basan rural hromada Nova Basan rural hromada () is a hromada of Ukraine, located in Nizhyn Raion, Chernihiv Oblast. Its administrative center is the village of Nova Basan. It has an area of and a population of 6,132, as of 2020. Composition The hromada contains ...

, one of the

hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s of Ukraine. Staryi Bykiv was previously located in

Bobrovytsia Raion Bobrovytsia Raion () was a raion (district) of Chernihiv Oblast, northern Ukraine. Its administrative centre was located at the city of Bobrovytsia. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which r ...

until it was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Chernihiv Oblast to five. The area of Bobrovytsia Raion was merged into Nizhyn Raion. It was captured by Russian forces during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

.On 27 February Russian troops destroyed the bridge between Staryi Bykiv and Novyi Bykiv, proceeding to enter the village. According to

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

, Russian then rounded up six male villagers and had them

summarily executed In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...

. The villagers' bodies were allowed to be buried in 7 March. The soldiers left on 31 March. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' said that three or four additional executions had taken place and that the local school had been destroyed. Much of the property in Staryi Bykiv and Novyi Bykiv was damaged or destroyed.

Population

Language

Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:https://socialdata.org.ua/projects/mova-2001/

References

{{Chernihiv-geo-stub Villages in Nizhyn Raion