The last survivors of the Irpin ruins have only one word to describe the Russians who retreated after one of the key battles of the war in Ukraine. “Fascists!” infuriates Bogdan, 58, as he and his friends walk with a dog in a deserted city center that is bomb-free for the first time in a month. His friends nod in agreement. “Every 20 to 30 seconds we heard gunshots. And so all day. “It’s just a disaster,” the construction worker told AFP reporters who arrived in Irpin on Friday. A damaged building is depicted in Irpin, near Kyiv, on April 1, 2022, amid a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP / Getty Images It used to be a smart passenger town in the pine forests at the northwestern tip of Kiev. But Irpin kept all the force of the Russian invasion, and became the closest force to Moscow in the center of the capital, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away. The city, whose once lush parks were littered with corpses, is now back under Ukrainian control as Russian troops hastily withdraw from Kyiv. The victory came at a tremendous price that made Irpin look more like Aleppo or Grozny than a prosperous satellite city in Ukraine. Only one building has survived the fighting unscathed. The bombing has torn down huge pieces of modern apartment buildings in pastel colors. The foggy roads are spooky empty, full of cars with windshields with bullet marks and resounding with the sound of stray dogs. “It’s the revelation,” says a Ukrainian soldier crossing the empty city. People cross the Irpin River near a damaged bridge as they evacuate the city of Irpin, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, April 1, 2022. Photo: Gleb Garanich / Reuters For the past three weeks, Irpin has been closed to the media following the death of an American journalist, with Ukrainian authorities saying it was too dangerous for him to enter. Now, near a downtown sign that says “I love Irpin” with a red heart, the handful of residents who remained say they survived more than a month of relentless bombing. “We hid in the basement. “They fired Grad rockets, mortars and tank shells,” said Bogdan, who asked to be identified only by his first name. “My wife and I were shot twice. “But it does not matter, we are alive and well.” Rescuers continue to retrieve the dead from Irpin and place them in bags of corpses before transporting them to the blown bridge that connects the city with Kyiv. The bridge is covered with dozens of burnt, bullets and abandoned cars, which rescuers are now trying to clear. Ukrainian soldiers cross a damaged bridge at the entrance to Irpin, near Kyiv, on April 1, 2022, amid a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP / Getty Images
