‘It can’t be fixed:’ In shattered Irpin, signs of homecoming

By CARA ANNA
Associated Press

IRPIN, Ukraine (AP) — Heartened by Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine’s capital region, residents of the town of Irpin have started coming home, at least to what’s left. The pounding sounds from a sixth-floor window and the risk of falling glass are not destruction, but rebuilding. Irpin saw desperate scenes of flight just weeks ago. Terrified residents picked their way under a bridge intentionally destroyed by Ukrainian forces to slow the Russian advance toward Kyiv. Now, a long line of cars waits to cross a recently improvised bridge allowing access between the town and the capital. The early returnees are among the 7 million Ukrainians displaced inside their country by the war.