Irpin returnees find temporary home in a converted railway carriage

Irpin family living in railway carriage (Sky News)
Irpin family living in railway carriage (Sky News) Copyright AP Photo
By Philip Andrew Churm with AP
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Wife and husband Mila and Yevhen Kagarlytski and their 12-year-old son Vlad share the converted carriage with 25 other families left homeless by the Russian assault on the Kyiv suburb.

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A Ukrainian family have found a new home in a train carriage after returning to the Kyiv suburb of Irpin and finding that their house has been destroyed.

The carriage has been converted to house the Kagarlytskis and 25 other families whose property was devastated during the Russian siege of the town.

When Moscow launched its invasion in February, the family of three, like many others, sought shelter in their basement from the relentless shelling.

But as Russian troops pressed their advance toward the capital and occupied the town, they chose to flee.

On 4 March, wife and husband Mila and Yevhen Kagarlytski and their 12-year-old son Vlad took the risk of leaving in their car. 

"It was the last day when we could leave by car. The next day, all communications were cut off," Mila Kagarlytski said.

After moving from one place to another, they decided to return to Irpin because Vlad missed his friends. 

"I would really like to go back to school," explains Vlad. "My friends are there. My friend was in Irpin the whole time."

But after three months, the family found only broken glass and rubble where their house once stood.

Mila says that they are well-looked after while living in the carriage. "We are fed three times a day for free. There are showers, a kitchen and a restaurant. In general, the conditions are good."

"But how long we can be here -- we do not know. Because at the moment, we have nowhere to go," Kagarlytski said, explaining that they were among the lucky ones to escape, but that the three are also keen to go back to their normal lives in their own home.

Additional sources • Sky

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