In a large square in the center of Kyiv, between luxury hotels and cafes, stands in silence a collection of tanks and smashed APCs - a monument of death in the heart of the city, which only recently regained its pulse of life.
In some of the sooty vessels brought to the site to lift the morale of the population, shoes and the remains of the half-burnt uniforms of the Russian soldiers who were found dead were still scattered.
Around people rushing to work, cars surround the square.
Kyiv is still here, the Russians are no longer.
Contrary to all early estimates, the impromptu Ukrainian army has halted Putin's war machine, but it is doubtful he can defeat it.
Although the war has disappeared from the headlines and many regions of Ukraine, it is still raging in the east of the country and threatening to return and wash it all away.
In fact, Ukrainians are suffering hundreds of casualties every day, and there is a fear that their lines will collapse.
Destruction in Irpin,
"The human wave seemed to have no beginning and no end," the ruins in Irpin,
The ruined armored vehicles.
Kyiv,
Until that happens, if at all, Kyiv is modeling a thin shell of routine.
We arrived in the Ukrainian capital as part of a delegation from Club 2141 - an organization of former IDF company commanders. , Major (Res.) Peter Gizonterman, adds that "this is the club's fifth delegation, and after our people spent hundreds of hours in freezing cold in the refugee camps and border crossings with Poland, this time we sought to understand what the war inside Ukraine looks like."
"In the winter, which has been with the refugees for weeks on end in the endless queues at the border crossings," says Captain (Res.) Nissim Tal, a battalion commander in combat engineering.
We provided them with food and hot drinks, which moved the elderly and the disabled in wheelchairs to the top of the queue - all to alleviate some of the human suffering. "
In the center of Kyiv, the scars of war are almost invisible, but as you advance to the outskirts of the city, the wounds in the skyline open up: ruined buildings, burned gas stations and blown up bridges.
Only when you go the distance by car do you realize how close the Russian army was to the city center.
The Russian method of torture
A shocking massacre took place in Bocha in which between 300 and 450 innocent civilians were killed.
Despite this, the Russians did not destroy it: in the streets where the armored columns advanced there was considerable destruction, but next to them stood manicured villas with not the slightest hint of scratch.
Rustic, our guide, takes us to the building that housed the front headquarters of the Russian forces in the town.
On the second floor, the captured Ukrainians were tortured in pairs: one would watch his friend being abused, and then their captives would swap roles.
In the end they were shot to death.
Were we wrong?
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