Almost 10,000 residents of this city, located in the immediate vicinity of Kyiv, have already left this place, most often at the risk of their lives.
Flee at all costs from the atrocities of war. While Russia announced a localized ceasefire in several Ukrainian cities on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. to allow the evacuation of civilians through humanitarian corridors, the situation on Tuesday remains highly volatile in several parts of the country.
Wooden board as salvation
In Irpen, a city of just over 62,000 people about twenty kilometers from Kyiv, the civilian population is a direct target of Russian bombing and artillery attacks. The city is also the scene of intense fighting that forces residents of this last gateway on the western road of the Ukrainian capital to take all risks to leave the city.
To date, 10,000 people have already crossed a wooden board only 50 cm wide, half-drowned in the icy water of a river that runs under a bridge deliberately destroyed by Ukrainian forces to impede the advance of the enemy. This is one of the few passable routes from Irpen.
Everyone must pass on this board: women, babies, old people, dogs, carriages, suitcases on wheels, bicycles, wounded on stretchers and even bodies wrapped in carpets.
Once this obstacle has been overcome, they still have to pass an embankment and a crossroads, completely uncovered. Authorities said eight residents who fled the city, including a family with two children, were killed on Sunday alone.
At this level, the road used for evacuation is littered with empty strollers, bicycles, suitcases, shopping carts, and even homeless pets, because in order to move as quickly as possible, every movement is important: running and letting go of what gets in the way.
Exodus continues
The local population is horrified. At the BFMTV microphone, a resident of Irpin, who is trying to leave the scene, tells about her escape.
“We walked, there is a man who helped us and took us here, he told us that his family was killed and that he was helping civilians,” she said.
Another man claims to have miraculously escaped Russian fire.
“They shoot at cars because I know Irprin, I managed to get out of it, but when I tried to go there, they tried to shoot me. There is a sniper in this big building downstairs,” he said. reports BFMTV.
Even though tens of thousands have already been evacuated, Mayor Aleksandr Markushin told AFP that “another 10,000 people have to be evacuated, probably in 2 or 3 days.” “And just as many who refuse to leave,” he insists.