Hurry, for God's sake! The shelling will begin again in 20 minutes: Torn between hope and terror, survivors flee Russian onslaught for safety of Kyiv, writes RICHARD PENDLEBURY
By
RICHARD PENDLEBURY and
JAMIE WISEMAN FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Twenty minutes remain until the ‘humanitarian’ ceasefire ends. Anxiety is mounting. I want to leave here. But we must witness the inhumanity that is still taking place.
The light is fading and the feathery snow floats sideways rather than falling. This is, perhaps, the last chance of evacuation for the remaining citizens of the already ruined satellite towns of Irpin and Bucha.
Those who can – who have dared – leave their basements after almost two weeks under fire have spent this awful day in a conflicting state of hope and terror; first emerging from hiding, then struggling across the bone cold, fast flowing Irpin river to reach the buses that will take them to the relative safety of the
Kyiv city limits beyond.
The warped remains of the now iconic road bridge – destroyed by the Ukrainian army to slow the Russian advance – frames this exodus across a makeshift pontoon of planks, only inches above the water.
But the clock is ticking. Twenty minutes to 3pm. The window is closing. War is about to resume.
For days the Russians have scoured the neighbourhoods with heavy mortars and artillery. Earlier this week a fleeing family was killed by shelling, here on Popovic Street outside the shattered church, only 30 yards away from where I write. A Ukrainian soldier reminds me of this tragedy by showing the video footage he shot of the aftermath on his iPhone: a dead boy in the foetal position in his dark anorak, on the pavement, bleeding as someone tries to cover him with a black bin bag.
Hurry everyone, for God’s sake, hurry.
Tamara ‘celebrated’ her 87th birthday in her basement, under fire. Now, shuffling behind a Zimmer frame, and clad in house slippers, mauve scarf and sheepskin jerkin, she refuses to be carried to the cargo van that will take her into Kyiv centre
Luda is also weeping with shock. ‘I saw the Russians by my house,’ she says
The road from central Kyiv to the Irpin frontline is unsettlingly short – it is just four miles outside the city limits – but most local drivers are simply not prepared to go there
The light is fading and the feathery snow floats sideways rather than falling. This is, perhaps, the last chance of evacuation for the remaining citizens of the already ruined satellite towns of Irpin and Bucha
Those who can – who have dared – leave their basements after almost two weeks under fire have spent this awful day in a conflicting state of hope and terror; first emerging from hiding, then struggling across the bone cold, fast flowing Irpin river to reach the buses that will take them to the relative safety of the Kyiv city limits beyond
Terrified Ukrainian refugees escape from the town of Irpin and arrive in Svyatoshyns'kyi outside Kyiv
Tamara refused all help and made her way to transport, where she spoke to the Mail's Richard Pendlebury
Those who can – who have dared – leave their basements after almost two weeks under fire have spent this awful day in a conflicting state of hope and terror; first emerging from hiding, then struggling across the bone cold, fast flowing Irpin river to reach the buses that will take them to the relative safety of the Kyiv city limits beyond
Refugees sob as they escape the town of Irpin and make towards the capital city Kyiv
Ukraine war: Torn between hope and terror, survivors flee Russian onslaught for safety of Kyiv | Daily Mail Online
Whether you agree with this or not (and I have not finished watching it), it has a lot of great history and it gives a lot of background of all the players.
