“One, two… 19 in all”, Yevguen Yelpitiforov counts the sets of keys that his friends have entrusted to him to take care of their accommodation during their absence.
Nicknamed the "keeper of the keys", this 37-year-old Ukrainian travels through the towns of Irpin and Boutcha to visit the homes of his friends who fled the country because of the war.
Russian armed forces withdrew from the region at the end of March, after a particularly destructive occupation.
It was not long after that his friends started soliciting him.
“I water the plants, I clean the fridge, I pick up the glass,” explains the caretaker.
A mission that he takes to heart and that he does for free.
"If I were in their place, they would help me too," says Yevguen Yelpitiforov.
According to him, “the hardest thing” are the refrigerators and freezers filled with rotten food after weeks without electricity: “The smell is such that you can pass out,” he jokes.
Some acquaintances gave him a Soviet gas mask to protect himself: “It helps me a lot”.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/OVEHXAIEY2CNUR3I7QIQKPVZ5A.jpg)
