‘Those who stayed were all executed. I don’t know why’

Olena Mykulska lived with her family in Irpin until Russian soldiers destroyed their block. Now, thanks to international donations, their home is being rebuilt, writes Liam James

The rockets came first, as Russian troops advanced on Irpin in the days that followed the invasion of Ukraine last February. The small town was a prime target on the road to Kyiv, the capital city Vladimir Putin’s forces sought to capture early in the conflict, and was one of the first settlements to be subjected to ruthless bombardment at the hands of Moscow’s newly mobilised army.

Artillery fire and missile strikes reduced much of the town to rubble as civilians fled their homes en masse, with Ukrainian troops taking their place and exchanging gunfire with Russians on the burning streets.

Tanks rolled into Irpin and prowled around the town to secure the area as part of a plan to encircle Kyiv. Looking for a place to pitch up as the first month of the invasion came to an end on 23 March, a tank with a group of soldiers in tow smashed its way into a gated community. Olena Mykulska lived there.

She has returned with her partner and two children in the months since, but says she cannot hope to stay as Russian soldiers have laid waste to their building.

Olena and her family fled in the mad rush to leave Irpin weeks earlier. What she knows of the assault on her home comes from contact with neighbours who stayed behind all of whom are now dead and a community effort to piece together what happened there.