Dispatch from Ukraine: Aftermath of the Battle of Irpin

On Jan. 18, 2024, driving along Highway M506 between Kyiv and Irpin, we traced the path of the Battle of Irpin, in which the Ukrainian Armed Forces stopped the advance of Russian forces from entering their ultimate destination, Kyiv. Hundreds of soldiers, volunteers and civilians died along this road while defending their town.

Halting the invading force by blowing up bridges leading to Kyiv, Irpin itself took the brunt of occupation for 32 days in March 2022.

Two years later, the road and bridges are rebuilt and the town bustles with reconstruction. Children play in new, brightly painted playgrounds, parents push strollers through the park. At first glance, this could be a suburb anywhere in the U.S.

But the scars of war remain. Charred and hollowed out buildings punctuate the road next to newly built apartments, shrapnel and bullet ridden fences line the path to a new supermarket, a sparse park of tall tree stumps speaks of indiscriminate volleys of missiles and artillery.

We stop at a “car cemetery,” a pile of destroyed civilian cars in which entire families were annihilated as they fled. Some of the wrecks have candles in memory of those who died, some have flowers and ribbons. Some have teddy bears for the children passengers. An artist painted sunflowers over the rusty facades, his stenciled QR code a reminder that this is happening in 2024.

We visit the Irpin School of Music, whose director, Natalia Didikina, gave us a tour of the school. Many of its students have fled to the West and students having fled from occupied cities like Mariupol and Bakhmut now fill its classrooms.

The school is not big but its pride looms large, and not just for its students. Revered is the teacher who died volunteering in defense of Irpin in the first days of the invasion, where colleagues preserve his tiny office in its original state in his honor. The building itself was severely damaged in an artillery barrage, much like the elementary school on the adjacent block and every building in sight.

The town’s revitalization depends heavily on foreign funding. I ask Natalia if she is disheartened by the dwindling support of western countries. She acknowledges that it “hurts when we are not supported” but emphasizes that she does not feel anger at the lack of support.

“We are very grateful for all of the support, but we need more. More weapons, more humanitarian aid…because we just don’t have enough. We have already exhausted all of our resources.”

Like most people in Ukraine, Natalia hopes that other countries will not underestimate the threat posed by Russia.

“It is not enough to say ‘Ukraine, we are with you,’ other countries must take action to protect themselves and invest in their own defense by supporting us. There just aren’t enough Ukrainians to protect the borders.”

Natalia is right: there aren’t enough Ukrainians to protect the edges of democracy.

We thank you for your continued support and invite you follow us on our journey through Ukraine for the next two months. To see how and where your support makes an impact, please visit www.sunflowerfund.org or follow us on www.facebook.com/Sunf1owerFunding.

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