It’s a martyr city, “worse than Boutcha“by the Ukrainians’ own admission. Borodyanka, about fifty kilometers northwest of kyiv, was massively destroyed by Russian troops before their withdrawal from the area at the end of March. Two weeks after their departure and as Moscow promises to strike the region again, locals attempt to clean up and reclaim what little they have left.
Of what was a residence open to children’s play areas, today on land, only ruins remain. Leaning on his car, Vassily, 63, barely dares to look at the hole where his son’s apartment stood. “I have come to collect my family’s belongings. My son, now he is at the front”, explains the old man, turning to the pile of rubble. Just behind him, another building, still standing but completely charred. We go through the door, go up a floor in the middle of broken glass. In an apartment without a front door, two women try to gather some belongings in a living room devastated by Russian soldiers, they say.
In front of what remains of this residence, Alexandre, an engineer commissioned by the town hall, takes notes on his loose sheets. “We are analyzing the damage and its extentsays Alexander. This house must be destroyed, that’s for sure. But this one can be fixed. It is the engineers of the town hall who will do further expertise to confirm it: it is necessary to analyze the foundations, the load-bearing walls and the walls. A careful analysis that will take several weeks. It will also be necessary to clear the rubble where the bodies of thirty inhabitants were found, continues the man with white hair.
Work has already begun in the city center where dozens of volunteers are working under the orders of Tatiana. “We chose Borodyanka because it is the most destroyed cityshe explains. We work here in agreement with the town hall. Every day people join us and the municipality offers us to clean public buildings, kindergarten, schools. Yesterday we cleared the cultural center, the park and the treasury.” A little further on, diggers are busy trying to reopen the main street, hoping never to see Russian tanks pass through it again.