Those who managed to escape are now mourning the loss of a once “wonderful” suburb that, after weeks of Russian bombing, looks like a photograph taken directly from a World War II history book. “There were quarrels near my house. “We lived without electricity, water and gas for five days,” Irpin resident Olya Yevsieienko told the Telegraph. “I’m trying to make friends since March 11.” “Before the war, it was a wonderful city. I moved from Donetsk to Irpin two years ago, hoping to start a new quiet life without war. Irpin is an ideal city. Always clean streets, welcoming squares, new houses. “There are forests around where you can walk,” he said. Anastasia Robinskaya, 25, said she lost “everything she has” in Irpin, including her home. “It is scary to hear from neighbors that your house is broken and everything is coming out of it, it is scary to realize that you will not go back there. “It’s scary to hear that someone you know was shot or blown up by a rocket,” he said. “Every day I wait for the war to end.” He hopes to eventually return to Irpin, but acknowledges that this moment will also be very painful. “I know that when I return, I will not recognize my hometowns of Irpin and Bucha, but they were once the most beautiful small towns in Ukraine,” he said. “They are destroyed and bombed every day. The battles take place daily. “Our cities have become a shield for the capital.”
