ReportageRepairing the destruction and clearing the presence of the Russians have become the obsession of the inhabitants of this martyred city on the outskirts of kyiv.
After the withdrawal of the Russians on March 31, silence suddenly fell on Boutcha (Ukraine). It engulfed the streets, gardens, homes, and enveloped the entire city. Two and a half months have passed since the occupants left the premises, in the suburbs of kyiv, and it is only now that the sounds of everyday life are gradually returning, slowly, sometimes in a strange form, as if life , here, was distorted.
Near the railway, the trendy local bar has reopened. To find it, just follow the echo of rock music that resonates between the deserted buildings, with facades riddled with shrapnel and shattered windows. The establishment, ravaged by a missile that fell nearby, is slowly taking shape. A large plank painted in yellow and blue, the national colors, acts as a wall while waiting for more important work.
At 27, the owner, Boris Tkachenko, has all the paraphernalia of “Mister cocktail”, as his T-shirt indicates: American cap, earring, tattoos, muscular arms, dazzling smile and shaker at the end of his legs. fingers. Alcohol, however, he no longer sells. On the shelves, ground coffee has replaced bottles. “People have run out of money. They need food, not fun cocktails. And anyway, all my glasses shattered”, explains Boris, raising his voice to drown out the sound of the music. The bar is empty, at the end of May, but it is necessary to pretend that there is a crowd to forget the crushing silence which reigns around. With the war crimes committed by the Russians in Boutcha, the clientele has also changed. “Today, I only have journalists and prosecutors”notes the young owner.
Boris Tkachenko spent 1.5 million hryvnias (49,000 euros) to open this bar in December 2021. Six months later, everything has to be rebuilt, but it doesn’t matter: his family is still alive, ” It’s all that matters “. His wife and baby are in Switzerland, where his little “grows like a mushroom”far from his eyes – martial law prohibits men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the territory – so while waiting for their return, he picks up the rubble, broken glass, and clears the way.
The smell of death is gone
Repairing the destruction and clearing the presence of the Russians have become the inhabitants’ obsession. “Every day, on the way, I see a new piece of asphalt. We clean, we rebuild, but we know that it is impossible to erase the memory of what happened. » Boris Tkachenko recovers everything the occupants left behind. “We are going to make a museum”, he explains, showing his finds, stored on the ground, behind the entrance to the bar. His collection already includes two helmets, used ammunition, a piece of rocket, a food ration, a T-shirt and a gas mask.
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