BUCHA, Ukraine – Breezes rustle through the blossoming cherries of almost every block in this small town, white petals fluttering in the streets, where new pavement covers the damage caused by Russian tanks just weeks ago.
Spring arrived in Bucha in the six weeks since Russian troops withdrew from this dormitory outside Kyiv, leaving behind mass graves of slaughtered citizens, many of them mutilated, as well as shattered streets and destroyed buildings.
The resemblance to normal life returned to the city. Residents have been returning to Bucha for the past few weeks, and the city is vying to repair the physical damage caused by invading Russian troops and their weapons. Now, in the spring streets of the city, it is difficult to imagine the horrors that took place here.
On a recently paved street with freshly painted white lines, the rotating brushes of a street sweeper removed what was left of broken glass and pieces of iron shrapnel. In one of the neighborhoods where many of the 400 or so bodies of Ukrainian citizens were found in April, technicians were laying cable to restore the Internet service. In one house, a resident was removing pieces of destroyed Russian tanks that were still littered in his garden.
Repair of telephone and internet lines in Bucha last week. The city moved quickly to restore utilities after Russian forces withdrew. Credit … David Gutenfelder for The New York Times
Removing as many traces of the destruction caused by the Russian occupation as possible was an important step in healing the wounds suffered by the people of Bucha, said Taras Shapravski, an employee of the Municipal Council.
Mr Shaprawski said 4,000 residents remained in the town while it was occupied, terrified and many hiding in basements without enough food. Even after the withdrawal of Russian troops, many residents were injured.
“They were in a very bad psychological state,” he said. “Experts explained to us that the sooner we remove all possible reminders of the war, the sooner we will be able to get people out of this state.
Mr Shaprawski said the phone reception was restored a few days after the Russians left, followed by water and electricity. He said about 10,000 residents have returned so far – about a quarter of the pre-war population of this small town 20 miles from Kyiv, the capital.
As a sign of normal life, he said the marriage registration office opened last week and couples apply for marriage licenses almost every day.
Bucha was a city where many people moved to a more relaxed lifestyle, a place where they could raise families away from the hustle and bustle of the capital, to which many traveled for work. It was a place where people from Kyiv could drive on a nice weekend to have lunch.
Six years ago, Sergo Markarian and his wife opened Jam Cafe, which served Italian food, played old jazz and sold jars of jam. He described the cafe as almost like their child and decorated it with an eclectic combination of hundreds of photos and a series of photos of customers.
Larisa Ignatenko was washing the floor of Jam Cafe, an Italian restaurant in Bucha, last week before it reopened. Credit … David Gutenfelder for the New York Times
When Russia invaded, 38-year-old Markarian took his wife and 3-year-old son to the border with Georgia, where he is from. As a Georgian citizen, he could have stayed outside the country, but returned to Ukraine to volunteer, sending food to the front line.
Two weeks ago, when electricity was restored, Mr Markarian returned to Bucha alone to see what was left of the café and to repair the damage caused by Russian troops.
“They stole knives and forks,” he said, noting missing items. He said soldiers pulled out dining chairs to use at checkpoints and stole the sound system. And, he said, despite working toilets, they emptied on the floor before going out.
Two days before it reopened last week, the cafe and its outdoor terrace looked immaculate, and Mr. Markarian was testing the espresso to see if it was up to standard.
“Many people have already returned, but some are still afraid,” Mr Markarian said. “But we all definitely became much stronger than we were. We have faced things that we never imagined could happen. “
Last week, workers repaired the tracks at Bucha Central Station. The city is a dormitory in Kyiv, about 20 miles. Credit … David Gutenfelder for The New York Times
On the other side of town, in a number of closed shops with sharp roofs and boarded-up windows, Mr. B – a former cocktail bar run by Boris Tkachenko has been patched up and turned into a coffee bar.
Mr Tkachenko, 27, returned to Bucha a month ago, repaired a roof that, like most buildings on the street, looked damaged by shrapnel, and found that the espresso machine was still there. He reopened to sell coffee – or in the case of customers who were soldiers or medical workers, to give it away.
Mr. Tkachenko, who has worked in clubs in Florida and Canada and studied the hotel business in Switzerland, opened the bar with his savings last December. Russia attacked two months later.
He said he knew they had to leave when his 14-month-old daughter started running around their apartment, plugging her ears and saying “boom, boom, boom” at the sound of explosions.
Boris Tkachenko behind the stand of his former cocktail bar Mr. B in Bucha. He reopened the restaurant as a café after the Russians withdrew. Credit … David Gutenfelder for The New York Times
Mr Tkachenko took his family to the border with Slovakia, where they eventually reached Switzerland. He returned to Ukraine to volunteer, helping to send supplies to the front and displaced civilians.
“We had big plans for this place,” said Mr Tkachenko, who nevertheless had a wide smile that matched a tattoo on his arm that read “Born to be happy”, he told his bar.
He said that when the war ended, he would probably join his wife and daughter in Switzerland.
“I don’t see a future here right now,” he said.
While the frantic work of city workers and residents has helped clear the city of much of the wreckage of Russian occupation, the signs of what has happened here are deep.
In a quiet corner of the street, a bunch of dandelions and a lily of the valley were laid on a colorful scarf in a modest sidewalk monument.
Vladimir Abramov, 39, said the memorial honors his son-in-law, Oleg Abramov, who was taken out of his house at gunpoint by Russian soldiers, ordered to kneel and shot. (Oleh Abramov and his wife Irina were the subject of a Times article published this month.)
The memorial on the sidewalk of Oleh Abramov, a neighborhood resident who was forced to kneel and shot by Russian soldiers, is pictured in April. Credit … Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
“He was not even questioned,” he said.
Mr Abramov’s home was destroyed by Russian soldiers who threw grenades at his house. But he said it was nothing compared to the suffering of his 48-year-old sister, Irina Abramova, who lost her husband and her house.
“I’m trying to help her and take care of her so she doesn’t commit suicide,” he said. “I tell her that her husband is watching her from heaven.
Mr Abramov, a glazier, said he was now wondering whether to rebuild his house. “I want to get out of here,” he said.
A small group of residents gathered in front of the city’s morgue, where French and Ukrainian investigators are still working to identify bodies from massacres by Russian troops, hoping to find out what happened to family members.
77-year-old Valentina Nechiporenko at the grave of her 47-year-old son Ruslan in April. Ruslan was killed by Russian troops on March 17 while delivering humanitarian aid to neighbors in Bucha. Credit … Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
Julia Monastirska, 29, said she had come to try to obtain a death certificate for her husband, whose body was among those found in April. His hands were tied, he was shot in the back and legs, and one of his eyes was burned, she said.
Ms Monastirska said her husband Ivan was a crane operator who had disappeared while she and her 7-year-old daughter Alexandra were hiding in the basement of their apartment building.
Alexandra, wearing glasses and sneakers with princesses on them, leaned against her mother as she listened to details she was already familiar with.
“As far as I know, everyone wants to come back here, but they are still afraid,” Ms Monastirska said. “We were born here, we lived here, a lot of good things happened here.
Julia Kozak, 48, accompanied by her 23-year-old daughter, Darina, and Darina’s 3-year-old son, Jehor, had come for a DNA test to see if there was a match between the unidentified remains of her missing son, Alexander, 29. who took part in the war against Russia in 2017
Julia Kozak, right, with her daughter Darina and grandson Yehor, in the apartment building of Mrs. Kozak’s son, Alexander. She last spoke to him in March. Credit … David Gutenfelder for The New York Times
Prosecutors found his military ID card, dirty and moldy, in a basement where Russians held prisoners.
Sobbing, she said the last time she spoke to her son on the phone in March, he told her he was being shot. There is a bullet hole in his apartment on the window, on which the cross sign is engraved.
Chef Kozak said he plans to stay in Bucha until he finds his son.
“I’m sure he’s alive, 100 percent sure,” she said. “I feel like he’s somewhere, I just don’t know where.”
Children from the neighborhood moved a garbage container to Bucha on April 20th. Residents began returning to the city just days after the withdrawal of Russian troops in late March. Credit … Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
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