in Irpin, life in converted trains while waiting for something better

“They’re like home! They’re not passengers on a train, but locals!” This head of Ukrainian railways proudly presents the seven wagons in national colors. In Ukraine, nearly three months after the liberation of the town of Irpin, northwest of kyiv, dozens of families are still deprived of homes destroyed during the war against Russian forces.

Also, to help them, the Ukrainian authorities have been offering, since June 15, accommodation in train carriages consisting of berths, showers, a restaurant or even a library. Everything is air-conditioned and connected to the internet. Karina, 38, lives there with her two cats. Like the first 56 residents, she lost everything. After several weeks spent with her family, she accepted this solution.

“Here, we are given time to rebuild ourselves. We don’t have a multitude of daily household chores. The most difficult thing is when I start to dwell on the past.”

Karina, 38 years old

at franceinfo

This past also haunts. Volodymyr, 73, retired. He is back in Irpin after three months hosted by his sister. “Thank God we don’t miss anything! But I can’t forget, he indicates. Sometimes I walk past my destroyed house and my heart races.”

Volodymir has heart problems and he fears that his heart is failing him. So he treats him, with pills. His last hope is to obtain reparations: “I have to think of my grandchildren, this house, it was for them…”, he sighs. To escape this nightmare for a few moments, Volodymyr often takes refuge in the songs of his youth, which he listens to in the cabin of his wagon, while waiting for better days.