residents of Borodyanka northwest of kyiv find their homes destroyed

Buildings partly collapsed, some pulverized… Leaving Borodyanka, northwest of kyiv in Ukraine, the Russians left in their wake a bruised and disfigured city. The reconstruction is starting little by little, but for some buildings, there is nothing more to do. Nearly 40% of buildings are affected.

>> War in Ukraine: what we know about the situation in Borodyanka, where the toll is “much more horrible” than in Boutcha, according to President Zelensky

“Four hours after we left, they bombed everything”says Oleskander who looks very moved at his gutted building. “I came to see my apartment. My heart hurts. It’s on the seventh floor. Everything is destroyed, he notices sobs in his voice. It’s hard. We just can’t believe that something like this could happen.”

The staircase is still there. We ride with him. His apartment is charred. “Look! This was my bathroom, this was my kitchen. This was the fridge here, the bedroom there!”, he describes. But behind the wall is emptiness. “I lived here for 30 years, the children, me… Everything burned down. The bomb went through the whole building.” Neighbors who remained died. It’s too dangerous to drag on. We go back down.

Oleskander sees his children’s godfather. Viktor, 56, lives in a small house, also affected by the blast from the explosion. “Come in !, he invites us while warning: Do not fall. The roof is damaged.”

“We left at 7:10 a.m. At 7:40 a.m. there was the explosion”, says in turn Viktor. In one corner of the room, a plank of wood fell on the crib of her one-year-old and two-month-old grandson. He repeats, a little dazed, the question he was asked: “What can I feel? We have to start our life over from scratch, at my age. We didn’t even have time to take Grandma’s blood pressure monitor. We left dressed like that. There, we try to recover documents, photos. What can we do ? Life goes on”he concludes fatalistic.

Behind the blown house, Viktor’s garden is miraculously intact, protected by the nearly collapsed garage. Like a symbol, like a sign that we must move forward despite the tragedy. “And that’s nothing. I have my Iris garden!exclaims Viktor who does not hide his pride. 300 varieties, one collection! At the end of May, you can come backhe invites us. It will all bloom. There, there is war but that is life that goes on.”