According to local authorities, about 50% of critical infrastructure facilities have been destroyed in the city.

A building destroyed by Russian shelling in Irpin / photo: CNN

Irpin is still extremely dangerous and off-limits to civilians – the town is still within range of Russian artillery. However, even after the end of hostilities, local residents will not be able to return soon – most of the buildings are now either destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

Now the fighting in the nearby areas of Bucha and Gostomel continues, but Irpen has completely come under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, Russian fighters still remain in the area. Local authorities, headed by the mayor of the city, organize a search for the remaining Russian soldiers. This is reported by CNN correspondents. 

The safest way to the city is dirt roads in the middle of the forest. According to the military, this is the only way to avoid shelling by Russian artillery.

“Beyond the Irpin River, destruction is everywhere caused by a month-long confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian troops. There are few unbroken windows, fallen trees on almost every corner, broken or destroyed military equipment. Most are Russian,” the publication’s report says.

The few local residents who remained in the city were forced to move from their homes to bomb shelters due to intense shelling, where everything that was in the houses was also demolished.

“It’s impossible to go home,” explains Ivan Boyko, 66. “There’s shooting every night and day. It’s scary to go out.”

“After several days of intense shelling, a frightening silence reigns in Irpin, the silence is broken only by rare shots in the distance. It looks like a ghost town,” the journalists say.

Local authorities use the opportunity to find the bodies of those killed. Now the operation has been suspended due to the renewed shelling of the Russian invaders.

“Our group of police, which took out the corpses, was fired from mortars,” the chief of police in the Kiev region told reporters in Irpen on Thursday. “They lay under the bridge for an hour, waiting for the shelling to stop.”

“The enemy is acting dirty. He can fire at a distance of up to 7 kilometers,” he adds. According to law enforcement officers, in one hour, Russian troops carried out 348 strikes in one area.

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According to local authorities, about 50% of critical infrastructure facilities have been destroyed. However, according to the Ukrainian military, the return of the city cheered everyone up, and ZSU will not stop there.

(C)UNIAN 2022