- After having seen the destruction of Borodyanka, and the remarkable recovery efforts underway in Bucha, it is time to visit Irpin. Of the three, this is the bigger town: pre-war, it had over 60,000 inhabitants. Some parts of the town look untouched, but we see also often see destroyed buildings. North of Irpin lies Hostomel, an airport which was one of the first targets of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Inevitably, also Irpin suffered greatly. It was occupied by the Russians, who not only destroyed many buildings, but also killed more than 300 persons. An intersection used by people to flee the bombardments, was bombed. A little over a month after the beginning of the war, Irpin was fully under control of Ukraine again. Still, the scars left by the brutal invaders can still be seen everywhere.
- We see a row of houses that are all burned out. They look like stacks of charcoal, where you can still recognize the frames of windows, floors that are blackened by fire, walls that have disappeared. A lone Ukrainian flag brings some colour in this monochromatic scene. Once more, it shows the resilience of the Ukrainian people: someone put the flag there after the buildings were destroyed. Defiance. It is a powerful sight. It brings some positivity in the middle of all the shocking destruction. We see large apartment blocks, destroyed by missiles and fire, with stacks of rubble in front of them. Cranes are in place to clean up. It is hard to believe, but some of these buildings are actually already being rebuilt, or have finished. The restoration effort is underway even though the war is not over at all.
- Close to one destroyed building, we see a supermarket that looks new. It actually is new: it was destroyed and looted by the Russians, has already been rebuilt and stocked. We see the Culture House of Irpin, which partly lies in ruins. The columns at the entrance has bullet holes. The middle part, which has been destroyed and is burned out, has a scene of storks and sunflowers painted on it. I also find a graffiti of TVBoy, an Italian artist. It shows a soldier with a small girl holding a teddy bear. Near Irpin, we find a bridge that was preventively destroyed by the Ukrainian army, in an effort to stall the Russian advance on Kyiv. A bypass allows cars to cross, and also here, reconstruction efforts are underway. A solitary stroller stands close to where the bridge was destroyed - it contains wilted flowers. We also see a car cemetery, where cars destroyed by the Russian invaders are stacked up. We see several cars with bullet holes, and cars with sunflowers painted on them. Some cars have small stuffed animals on their burned out dashboard. On one car, Putin has been painted: he is wearing a prison suit and a slogan saying that the Russian president should be in jail. Then, a car stops, someone steps out, sees the picture of Putin, and starts kicking violently against the painting. Who knows, he has lost a relative or a friend? I can feel - and understand - his anger. Who knows if the war criminal will ever really end up in prison? It seems unlikely, but you never know.
