We forced the Russians back from Kyiv: Now we’re braced for what comes next

Ukrainians know the war is not over, so each day we clean up, document the destruction, and do our best to prepare, writes Nataliya Gumenyuk

Ukrainian soldiers walk on a destroyed bridge in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Wednesday. Picture: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

Near one of the oldest and most beautiful squares in Kyiv, Sofiivska, I met Andriy Khlyvnyuk, a famous Ukrainian singer who recently joined the police civil defence. I wrote about him during the first days of the war. The video of him singing the century-old march ‘Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow’ went viral. Pink Floyd collaborated with Khlyvnyuk and issued their version of the track, ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’, in support of Ukraine.

At the start of the war, the streets of Ukrainian cities emptied. So when strangers meet now, they say hello, and when you come across someone you know, even a distant acquaintance, you hug each other. I told Khlyvnyuk I’d just come from Donbas, and had a feeling of irreversible tragedy lying ahead in anticipation of possibly the biggest battle of the war.