Irpin: Journey to the ruins of a city after the catastrophic Russian invasion

The last survivors of the ruins of the city of Irpin have only one word to describe the defeated Russian soldiers after one of the crucial battles of the war in Ukraine: “fascists”.

This is the word that Bogdan, 58, uses angrily as he walks his dog with his friend in the deserted center of this city on the outskirts of Kiev, which has not been bombed for the first time in a month.

His friend winks and agrees.

“Every 20 to 30 seconds, we heard gunshots. And so on all day. Just a disaster,” he told AFP reporters who visited the city on Friday.

Until mid-February the city was a well-preserved suburb in the pine forest on the northwestern outskirts of the capital. Today an uninhabited, deserted area, which Moscow bombed and wanted to occupy in order to “de-Naziize” it.

Irpin, in the northwestern suburbs of Kiev, resisted the Russian invasion with all its might, blocking roads, blocking the passage of Russian troops to Kyiv, about 20 kilometers away.

The city, whose once green parks are full of corpses, is now again under Ukrainian control. Russian troops quickly withdrew from the outskirts of the capital.

It was a Pyrrhic victory that made the city recognizable. Almost all the buildings were destroyed. The bombing blew up huge chunks of modern, colorful buildings.

The foggy roads are eerily empty, where only stray dogs and crows roar. The car windshields are broken.

“It’s a revelation,” says a Ukrainian soldier hitchhiking in a deserted city.

“I love Irpin”

Irpin had already embodied the horrors of war in the early days of Putin’s invasion, who claimed he wanted to “demilitarize and de-Naziize” Ukraine.

Pictures of dead members of a family from a shell as they tried to flee and thousands of people who had taken refuge under a damaged bridge, traveled around the world.

For three weeks, the media did not have access to it after the death of an American journalist, with the Ukrainian authorities saying that it is very dangerous to go to the city.

In the center today, near a “I love Irpin” sign surrounded by a red heart, the few remaining city residents say they survived more than a month of incessant bombing.

“We were hiding in the basement. They were throwing Grad rockets, mortars and tank shells,” said Bogdan, who asked only to be named. “My wife and I have been shot twice. But we are alive and well.”

Wandering on a road blocked by places of charred cement, Victor Kutseruk asks for cigarettes.

“As soon as we heard fire we immediately ran to our burrows,” said the 51-year-old. “Chandelier lamps fell from the explosions. During the bombings we were sitting at home, in the corner, where the walls are thicker.”

A new apartment complex with a large sign that says “Irpin, rich city” bears the signs of bombing and two apartments there have been completely destroyed.

Playgrounds with abandoned children’s mopeds are covered in rubble.

Rescuers are still picking up the dead to put in bags before transporting them across the exploding bridge that connects the city with Kyiv.

This bridge is covered with dozens of burnt, full of bullets and abandoned cars, which the rescuers are trying to free.

Amputated legs

In recent days, Ukrainian forces have “liberated” a number of Russian-occupied towns and villages near the capital, after Moscow announced it would restrict its operations in Kyiv.

Russia’s withdrawal now appears to be accelerating, at least in this area, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has assured that Moscow is preparing to launch an attack in the east and south of the country.

Agence France-Presse reporters counted at least 13 damaged Russian armored vehicles around the village of Dmitrivka, five kilometers southwest of Irpin.

At least three charred bodies of Russian soldiers were found under the wreckage of an escort of eight tanks and armored vehicles.

A mutilated leg was seen next to a vehicle.

Russian military uniforms and personal items strewn on the ground, including a book in Russian translation, bound in red leather. Book of the 18th century British historian Edward Gibbon: “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”.

Oksana Furman, 47, points to a huge hole, most likely caused by a Russian military shell two days ago, in her kitchen. A Russian tank crashed into the wall of her garden, causing it to collapse.

“There was a crazy roar, the noise of vehicles, everything was shaking. And then shells and shells again,” he said, saying he had taken refuge in a neighbor’s cellar.

In Irpin, where authorities claim at least 200 civilians were killed, residents are taking courage from Ukraine’s victory in the battle for their city.

“We have recaptured Irpin, we have reclaimed many things, but the war is not over,” Bogdan said in a hushed voice.

Source: AMPE