It’s exactly 12:35 p.m. when a roar shatters the calm atmosphere Lukyavinska, the quarter on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv. A thud, scattered, with no previous or subsequent skirmishes. The only vivid testimony in contrast to the huge strides the Ukrainian capital has made on the security alert front over the past two days. Standstill, calm before a new storm? The city actually came in a kind of rest which promises a lot, but certainly does not allow to announce the end of hostilities.
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True, it is clear that after a defeat on the outskirts of Kyiv, the Russian army is retreating irpin and looking forward to giving up too Bucha, the threat of new attacks remains very high. It would be completed today the retreat of the Russian troops on the opposite side, in the Brovary district, about 30 km northeast of the capital. Military strategists assume that Moscow will launch a new strategy for attacking the most important Ukrainian city. However, it should be noted that things in Kyiv have changed significantly in the space of two days. The latest antiaircraft alert (announced by the government on mobile phones before the sirens went off) goes back to last night, when in general there were only two. Not to mention the violent armed clashes earlier in the week, again between Irpin and Bucha: the night from Tuesday to Wednesday was dramatic in that sense and the fear of a renewed conflict made the fear worst. In fact, it was a kind of epilogue to the fiercest confrontation, even if the Irpin area, 25 km from Maydan as the crow flies, remains closed.
In the last 48 hours, calm has returned to the capital apart from late morning din and early morning shooting in the southwestern suburbs. Just in Lukianivska at 5 a.m. on March 15, at the peak of tension, a Russian missile hit a “military” target: the offices of a Ukrainian defense contractor. The impact of the rocket caused a terrible shock wave, which damaged all buildings within a few hundred yards, including the crystal skyscraper next to the target: “It was night and we were woken up by the roar and explosion. I live in the buildings over there, fortunately a bit apart, minor damage to the house, just a piece of broken glass, but I was afraid. The antiaircraft bunkers? Nobody goes there anymore‘ says an elderly resident who has decided to stay in his home.
Last Monday the area was half deserted and immersed in total silence. Aside from the devastation left by the missile, only the soldiers at the road checkpoints and a few elderly people went shopping. Four days later, the scenery looks very different. The local marketwith the gates then locked with chains, opened again. Inside, most of the stalls are not active, but some itinerant vendors have already reopened. Gennady sells the meat: “My brother and I opened again this morning, there is no movement like before the war, God forbid, but it is a start. We hope we can continue like this, but I fear the worst will return. A local artist places his hand on the tram shelter in front of the subway entrance and on the glass window that was damaged by the blast he was carrying the yellowblue colors of Ukraine an image of a child with his mother and the sign of victory.
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Throughout the area, residents return to stroll and children to play, there is a sense of momentary liberation awaiting events. The volume of traffic on the streets of the capital has at least doubled compared to the beginning of the week, and the first queues are forming at the checkpoints; certainly nothing to do with the traffic chaos of the prewar period. In general, the urban sounds typical of a big city have returned despite the halving of its population. April 1st marks another important date in Ukraine: from this afternoon After 36 days of total ban, it will be possible to buy alcohol in supermarkets again placed by the government of Kyiv. In the center, in the most elegant district, cafes and restaurants are slowly reopening. The first to try gambling were some “trendy” clubs for young people on Via Shota Rustaveli, two minutes from the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv. Like a domino effect, the shutters are now uncountable and no longer limited to pharmacies and magazines, the small local grocery stores.