Descent into Hell: Ukrainians reclaim shelled homes near Kyiv

Iryna Vereshchagina, films with her mobile phone Russian destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Dmytrivka village, west of Kyiv, Ukraine April 1, 2022. [Reuters]

Wisps of smoke still rising from the smouldering wrecks of tanks, business executive Leonid Vereshchagin wends his way past the charred corpses of Russian troops in this Ukrainian hamlet after what he calls a living hell.

For a month, he and his wife sought refuge in a friend’s basement in Dmytrivka, about 22 miles (35 km) west of Kyiv, as Russian troops advanced and occupied the area and took over the homes of some of his neighbours.