in the rubble of Irpin, the inhabitants try to rebuild their lives

The Irpin bridge, scuttled the day after the Russian offensive by Ukrainian forces, has become one of the symbols of resistance. “If the Ukrainian army sacrifices this bridge, it is because it is the only one able to support the weight of the tanks and it is necessary at all costs to block the road to the columns of Russian armored vehicles which are heading towards Kiev”, says Anne-Sophie Lapix. The Russian army will not pass, but will push thousands of inhabitants into exile. Images of civilians fleeing the bombardments on makeshift bridges made of planks of wood will go around the world.

Residents relocated to prefabs

Olena Leshchenko made the crossing on March 5, with her 18-year-old son, after her neighborhood was bombed. The memory of this escape continues to haunt her. “People were falling, I was very worried about my son. At that moment I realized that I had forgotten all our official papers”, she recalls. The city was 50% destroyed and some residents, returning home, had to be relocated to prefabricated buildings on the edge of a wood. In Irpin, rebuilding his home, his city and his life has become an obsession and an urgency. It is the most unshakeable of resistances.