Report
Ukraine: back in the West, families find their devastated homes
Audio 01:23
The Trofimenko family upon returning to Irpin found a devastated town.
© Sami Boukhelifa / RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
While the fighting is concentrated in eastern Ukraine, in the west the situation has returned to calm.
In Irpin, a city-verou at the entrance to kyiv, intense fighting took place and the destruction is immense.
The inhabitants who had fled begin to return and find a city in ruins.
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With our special correspondents on site
,
Murielle Paradon
and
Sami Boukhelifa
“
You see our neighbours' house, it is completely destroyed…
” Youri Trofimenko contemplates a house reduced to a pile of bricks.
He considers himself lucky.
Only his windows exploded in the bombings of his neighborhood.
He returned to Irpin just a few days ago with his family after fleeing fighting in early March.
He still remembers it very vividly.
“
When we made the decision to leave, it was very dangerous because of the explosions, the destruction.
Our children were sitting in the basement while we gathered our things and left.
It was very hard emotionally.
»
► To read also: War in Ukraine: in Irpin, the difficult crossing to the humanitarian corridors
Irpin, the lock of kyiv, was largely destroyed.
Today, the Russians have left the region.
The roads have been cleared, but everything has to be rebuilt.
And life resumes only very slowly for the Trofimenko family.
Internet did not come back
"
At the moment I'm on vacation because I can't work: I don't have the Internet at home
," testifies Elena, Yuri's wife.
“
We can rejoice because we have had electricity for a few days.
Before we were restored to water, gas, and we have just changed the panes of the windows.
We're just waiting for the internet.
»
The four children in the family have still not returned to school.
The nursery of the two youngest was destroyed in a bombardment.
All of our daily, live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
© FMM Graphic Studio
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