“There may be bombings. You must always stay with your army guards. If there is an attack, hit the ground.” Irpin is still a long way from being safe. The small satellite town that refused to succumb to Russian bombardment for more than a month is still standing – but only. This is how close the Russians got to the capital. just a few kilometers from the prize that the Russians want so much and which they believed they could claim in a few days. But here they gave some of their fiercest street fights. Fighting and bombing continued for more than a month. Image: Irpin is located at the northwestern tip of Kiev In parts of the city there is hardly a building or a house that is untouched. Huge residential apartments, houses, businesses and playgrounds are made of skeletons and very tall skeletons. Ukrainian soldiers are still on red alert here, sweeping the streets trying to ensure that every street is empty of Russian forces who have been terrorizing Irpin residents for weeks. They are extremely concerned about any mines or traps that the Russians may have left behind as they withdrew. What is left of much of Irpin is rubble. Image: Ukrainian army repels viscous attack by invaders – but houses destroyed and damaged What horror must have been felt by those who lived in these apartment buildings as it rained missiles after shelling, mortars after mortars and heavy artillery. There are open holes in what used to be people’s homes and lives. Below the multi-storey blocks there are half-filled cars, doors open with panic, some with holes in their hoods. The place is full of mechanisms that have not exploded – in playgrounds, in residential courtyards, nowhere was out of bounds for intruders and there was no mercy. They are still dragging the dead. The exact number who died here will take some time to confirm, with survivors talking about burying relatives and friends in parks and playgrounds during the month-long bombing. We have seen dozens of bags with bodies being loaded onto trucks and transported in waiting vehicles. They will collect DNA and store basic bodily details so that at some point relatives can identify those who did not survive the Irpin Battle. Image: Corpses being collected in the hope that they can finally be located Image: Burnt cars sweep the bridge connecting Irpin with Kyiv The Ukrainian forces were not destined to do this, to pursue their much more powerful enemy, but they fought fantastically hard. We see their military equipment half submerged in the river. The bridge that connects the suburb with the capital is littered with burnt vehicles and full of potholes. Irpin has proven to be one of the pivotal battles of the war so far – but what constitutes victory here has come with enormous sacrifices. Yevhenii Yenin, the deputy interior minister, told us: “You see the heavy losses suffered by the Russian troops and the atrocities and the use of banned heavy weapons against the civilian population and our national police provide evidence and evidence. to bring them to justice. “ It is a wonder that any of these people are still alive, and the last ones that came out showed terrible signs of suffering and pain. A man we see wearing outside is barefoot, his skin red raw and peeled. His legs look burned and infected. The first thing that comes out of his mouth is a request for food: “Do you have an apple?” he asks us. He looks very modest and has a haunted look on him. Picture: Some residents managed to get over it at worst Most of the city’s infrastructure has been bombed and is not working, so he and others trapped in the city have had no electricity, little water or food for weeks, and endure constant bombardment and fighting. “When was the last time you ate?” we ask him. The answer comes three days ago. We found some resilient residents who managed to get over it at worst. They hold me and kiss my hand when they see us. One, named Sergei, tells us: “This is just awful, everything that happened here – it’s just barbaric – is the work of a man who is very sick in the head.” This small group has overcome its worst ordeal by staying together – emblematic of the Ukrainian solidarity we have seen across the country during this war. A woman still there tells us that the explosions continued even after Russia’s promise this week to de-escalate military action around Kyiv. “We were here,” he says, “we were just sitting here and the bombs were just falling on us.” Image: A soldier helps a woman over the bombed Irpin bridge The almost constant attacks have led to the city being virtually emptied and everyone we spoke to believes that the Russians will return, perhaps to Irpin again, but they will certainly try once again to occupy the capital. And now they have the problem of clearing all the extremely dangerous ammunition – a huge challenge, the capital’s top police officer told us. “Our experts estimated that the longest interval between bombings was about 21 seconds,” said Andrii Nebytov, chief of the Kyiv police. This is a pile of decrees that have not exploded. And for the seniors we saw pulling out a stretcher, a woman tightened her bag and kept her eyes tightly closed as she lay on the ragged wooden planks across the bombed-out bridge outside Irpin. The test is not over yet. All their lives have changed beyond comprehension. However, as we left, those who remained showed incredible contempt and vigor, hitting the air in the disaster that surrounded them. That may be why they repulsed a larger, better-armed invading force. Alex Crawford reports with camera operator Jake Britton and producers Chris Cunningham and Oleksandr Piskun. Photos by Chris Cunningham.
