People live here

I didn’t want to go on the site of the strike in Holosiivs’kyi this morning, I knew what I would see: death, despair and destruction. We see it too often here. One shelling would already be one too many, and it keeps on happening, at various scales and over various cities, everyday.

But we need to see. We can’t afford to close our eyes. Hours after the strike, the smoke is no longer there, but the air is still filled with its smell. It has started to rain and a strong wind makes debris swirl around the people still there.

As the night falls on dozens of flat no longer inhabitable, people look on what used to be their homes. Some are waiting at the entrance of the building hit, they are trying to retrieve whatever belongings they have left. Others already carry a backpack, suitcase and plastic bags. Firefighters are still on site to clear up the crime scene. The sounds of drills indicates that wooden panels are being installed to replace broken windows.

Today, in Kyiv alone, here in that residential building in the otherwise quiet, green district of Holosiivs’kiy, four people died and over 40 got injured, including a pregnant woman. Other civilians lost their pets to this horror.

As you can see from the some of the pictures, despite all this, lights are on in the untouched part of the building. People live here. Люди живуть тут.