Ukrainians know the war is not over, so each day we clean up, document the destruction, and do our best to prepare, says journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk
At the start of the war, the streets of Ukrainian cities emptied. So when strangers meet now they say hello, and when you come across someone you know, even a distant acquaintance, you hug each other. I told Khlyvnyuk I’d just come from Donbas, and had a feeling of irreversible tragedy lying ahead in anticipation of possibly the biggest battle of the war. “How are you holding yourself together?” Andriy asked me. “I’m not thinking too hard,” I told him. “I just focus on what I should do next.
Travelling between liberated villages and towns around Kyiv to document evidence of crimes – something I see it as part of my job to do – has become hard. Many bridges were bombed and roads are being cleared, so traffic jams are enormous. People are now coming back en masse. But the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, has asked residents to wait. Air raid sirens are still sounding, though we hear them less often. The full-scale assault on the capital may resume.
I am not ready to go to restaurants yet, and opt for a supermarket instead. Eating out, having a good time, doesn’t feel right. Many Kyiv residents feel survivor’s guilt. The city authorities say 228 сivilians, among them four children, were killed in Kyiv, and almost 400 people wounded. Still, the level of destruction cannot be compared to Kharkiv or Mariupol. Moreover, in nearby towns such as Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel, many residents paid the highest price possible for not letting Russians in.
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