From the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after the several attacks around Kiev, the speed with which the Ukrainians began to fix what was destroyed was always surprising.
No matter the size or severity of the losses, an army of people would organize just moments later to sweep, stack, and clear. Often, even in the midst of a chaotic and dangerous environment, people with hammers, screwdrivers and other tools were seen fixing windows, doors, bars and gates damaged by shrapnel or the shock wave of nearby explosions.
With tractors, brooms and shovels, driving trucks or pushing trucks, it seemed that everyone wanted everything back to normal as soon as possible. In Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, dormitory towns around the capital Kiev, it was no different. Just over two weeks after Russian troops left the outskirts around the capital, the population of these three cities struggled to return to normal.
At the church, the work of retrieving bodies buried in mass graves is over. On the ground, only the marks of the tires of the tractor used to push the earth remained. Around, black plastic bags for the transport of corpses remained strewn over what appears to be the remains of burnt rubbish, among sardine cans, vodka bottles, cigarette packs and sheets of paper turned to ash.
The streets are clean and, in the places where bombs, mortars and missiles have fallen, asphalt is already being replaced to cover the potholes. Electricity is already working in most houses and apartments, although many are still without gas, forcing residents to cook outside using firewood, sitting on wooden crates, braving the wind and cold.
The wreckage of Russian armored vehicles on Vokzalna Street has been removed, the asphalt has been redone, and even the rubble of the destroyed houses has already been cleaned, allowing the transit of cars with civilians, trucks and military vehicles.
There are many cats everywhere, an animal very dear to the Slavic people in general. In the empty houses, some cats approach, sly, hoping that the visitor, even unknown, is bringing some food, as happened before the war, when their owners were still alive.
Irpin and Kiev are united again. The bridge hastily destroyed on February 24 by the Ukrainian army has not yet been redone, but a passage beside it has been built and paved, its crossing is safe and fast even for heavy vehicles, necessary for the reconstruction of what was destroyed.
At checkpoints, militiamen are no longer armed as they were in the early days of the war, and the feeling is one of tranquility. With everything clean, it is difficult to compare the scenery of the photos taken just over two weeks ago with the current environment. It won’t just be us, the photographers, who will have difficulties comparing the scenarios. Independent investigators too.
