These are some of the last residents of Irpin, a city visiting the trip a few miles from Kyiv. They are the ones who were too old, too weak or too sick to leave earlier. Instead, they have endured a month of hell as Russian forces pushed into the surrounding area in the early days of the war. The city has seen heavy fighting and has received heavy Russian bombardment. Volunteers distribute tea and sandwiches to the newcomers and those who are able to travel arrange walks with relatives in the city or further afield. Others are transported by stretcher to an improvised medical scene and then transported to hospitals or nursing homes. Not everyone can do it. A woman arrived on Friday with an open wound in her leg, which was apparently caused by a mortar attack. He died the next day in hospital. On Saturday afternoon a tiny woman who seemed to be in her 90s sat trembling in a chair, wrapped in a green blanket and looking into the distance, shocked, confused and unable to speak. Tamara Osypchuk, 72, was more lively and cried with joy as she was able to call her daughter, who lives in Britain, for the first time in a week and let her know she was safe. “I live on the ninth floor and I have trouble walking. “Today is the first time I’m been out for three years,” she said, dressed in a fur coat down to the floor. While the remaining Irpin residents now sleep in basements, she had spent the past month in her apartment, wondering if every explosion would be her last. Tamara Osypchuk was evacuated from Irpin on Saturday. Photo: Shaun Walker / Guardian “The noise outside was incredible. “All the time: bam, bam, bam,” she said, shouting with all her might to show the noise. The opposite corner of her apartment building was blown up, but her apartment remained somewhat intact. She said frequent prayer prevented her from panicking. “You have to look death in the eye and not be afraid. You must live as a human being and leave this earth as a human being, with dignity. “I was not going to sit in any basement,” he said. Irpin was one of the cities west of Kiev that the Russians pushed after landing at the nearby Hostomel air base in the early days of the invasion. However, Russia’s plans to encircle or occupy Kyiv quickly plunged into battle. Ukrainian forces now claim control of 80 percent of Irpin’s territory and are close to encircling Russian troops in the area. Fierce fighting continues. As of early March, there was no gas, water or electricity in Irpin, and almost no medicine. Ukrainian forces blew up the bridge connecting Irpin with Kyiv at the beginning of the war, to stop the Russian advance on the capital, which means that the inhabitants could only leave on foot through the ruins, which are scattered with abandoned, damaged vehicles and frequent attacks. Russian fire. For Oleksiy Ignatenkov, a 41-year-old businessman who coordinates a group of volunteers helping evacuate from Irpin, the refusal of some residents to leave is outrageous. “Sometimes we go to the same places over and over again and beg them, but they will not go,” he said, looking overwhelmed and exhausted. The evacuations must be coordinated so that volunteers or soldiers in Irpin can bring the residents to the bridge, transport them across the street and then be met by more volunteers from the other side, who lead them for a few minutes to the outskirts of Kiev, where the rapid In-depth crises are a constant reminder of what is happening in Irpin. A Ukrainian policeman is overwhelmed with emotion after consoling people who left Irpin on Saturday. Photo: Vadim Ghirdă / AP “The evacuation route receives mortar fire two or three times a day. “It’s like playing Russian roulette every time,” Ignatenkov said. On Thursday, two volunteers died during an evacuation attempt, he said, pointing to a video from his car after the attack, red pools of blood in the front seats. He asked that the victims not be named. Alexander Kolomiets, a 27-year-old trained pediatrician who plays standup comedy in his spare time, was one of the few young people left in Irpin after the first week of battle. Described a month with narrow shaves and shortages. “One morning I was taking water from the well and suddenly I heard noises, and I just jumped into the well and grabbed it sideways with my arms and legs, like Spider-Man. “I do not know how I did it, but it saved my life, as there were shrapnel flying everywhere,” he said. He tried to feed as many pets as he could. “I ran to abandoned apartments where there were pets left when there were gaps in the bombing, to feed them quickly,” he said. A house was hit half an hour after he left. another building was hit shortly before it arrived. At one location he left the attic to look for a cat downstairs and seconds later a shell hit the roof, destroying the upper floor. It’s not just the bombing that kills, it’s the nervous tension. “I saw elderly people fighting over bread. Everyone was so captive. Humor is important in these situations. “I stayed to try to cheer people up, I tried to joke with people and calm them down,” Kolomiets said. But late one night he heard the terrified cries of an old woman. When dawn broke, she discovered that she was his childhood friend’s grandmother: her husband had died of a heart attack, apparently unable to cope with the misery around him. “We buried him in the yard that morning. Can you imagine it? “To bury, with your hands, in your yard, someone you have known all your life”, he said. Another Irpin’s displaced person over the weekend with enough energy to talk about the ordeal was 45-year-old Svitlana Rohutska, who runs an online construction company and also raises Schnauzer puppies. She stayed at Irpin because she did not want to leave her dogs. Svitlana Rohutska with some of her dogs. Photo: Shaun Walker / Guardian “I could not leave the puppies. There are large dogs left behind, and they all starve and form herds. “They would have eaten my babies,” he said. He had spent the past month in a basement with six other people. They had plenty of food but the constant bombing and poor hygiene became unbearable. “It simply came to our notice then. Everyone was screaming at each other. Yesterday one of the others died. whether he had a blood clot or was a coronavirus, we do not know. He just died there. I realized I had to leave. “I have to wash, I need a doctor, I have to see a psychologist,” he said. She crossed the bridge carrying four of her dogs and a cat, and seven puppies submerged in a suitcase. Russian soldiers in Irpin on March 12. Photo: provided While in the basement, Rohutska heard Russian soldiers crossing the street, apparently on the hunt for food and supplies, she said. Another Irpin resident shared photos taken in the city on March 12 that appeared to show Russian soldiers entering private property, and claimed that local homes had been looted. “These orcs were getting what they could,” he said. While most people who left Irpin feel relieved to have arrived at Kiev’s relative security, Kolomiets said he planned to return on Monday in an effort to persuade more people to leave. “The people who are left now are the people who really can not walk: drug addicts, alcoholics and really elderly retirees. “These are the people we need to take more care of.”
