IRPIN A bomb had hit the house. Protected in the basement Olena Tereshchenko was sure of it.
At first he had heard the sound of approaching planes, then the whole apartment building shook. Everyone in the basement is crying, he says. Women, men and children.
It was March 2nd. Russia had invaded Ukraine a week earlier, and people in the neighborhood were hiding in the basement.
It turned out that the Russian bombers had not hit them but the house next door – the one where Tereshchenko’s good friend Natalia asui.
Natalia asked Tereshchenko on the phone what had happened to the apartment. He was no longer at home and thirsty for information.
Tereshchenko did not dare to go out to see.
Later, there was chaos in the yard. People had fallen from the floors, Tereshchenko describes. The fire that broke out after the bombing destroyed what was left.
A couple of days later, Tereshchenko left Irpin with his daughter.
It has now been three months since all this. Tereshchenko and his 9-year-old daughter Nastja Porh’un returned home three days ago.
– I just walked here and cried, Tereshchenko says, very calmly after all.
More and more families are returning to Irpin, twenty kilometers from Kiev, although the war is not over.
There are children in the playgrounds, and young people spend time outdoors.
Meduza operates from Latvia and is independent of the Russian administration. It bases its knowledge of the plan on unnamed sources near the Kremlin.
According to Meduza, the president Vladimir Putin led administration believes it will win the war by the end of the year.
In reality, Russia has suffered heavy losses in the war, although in recent days the Russian army has also made progress in eastern Ukraine. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky according to Russian forces currently hold about a fifth of Ukraine’s land area.
When Russia invaded the suburbs of Kiev on February 24, the quiet suburb turned into hell.
Tereshchenko would have liked to escape immediately, but could not because he recovered from an ankle surgery. He slept with his daughter first in the basement of one house and then another.
Tereshchenko praises his daughter’s bravery. Still, loud noises can frighten at night.
The worst in the basement, according to Tereshchenko, was silence when he did not know what would happen next.
– If it still explodes here, I’ll leave the country, Tereshchenko says.
In the middle of the apartment buildings is a group of lower houses. There is a covered table in the yard of one house: bread, cheese, soup and drinks. Almost the whole family sits at the table.
There is nothing to repair inside the house. this is Vitali Levchenko mother-in-law’s home.
Russian soldiers robbed, looting gold objects, money, and even spoons from their homes. According to residents, the doors of almost all apartments have been broken.
Olena Tereshchenko walks around the yard during the day. There is a huge pile of rubble and rubbish from the destroyed homes in the backyard.
Sometimes people come to look at the houses they used to live in. Only a fraction of the area’s residents have returned permanently.
– Many would already like to go home, but they have no place to return.
Tereshchenko is not currently working as a real estate agent. The employer is a real estate company that will not continue to operate for the time being.
Because of the war, the school has been visited remotely, but now the children have a summer vacation.
It is celebrated in a city that still has a state of emergency. There is a danger of mines in the forests and boats are not allowed on the river as there may be explosives underwater.
– This is our beautiful city. We are not leaving here, Tereshchenko says.
After all, the most important thing is to save. They survived. So is the friend Natalia.
For many others, the situation was different.