‘We all want to return’: residents fleeing Kyiv mourn a deserted city

Two weeks ago, the greater Kyiv area had a bustling population of about 3.5 million people, its streets buzzing with busy cafes, businesses and bars.

Today, after 13 days of bombing by the Russian military, the Ukrainian capital is deserted, with 50% of its inhabitants gone.

"Half of the Kyiv population has fled," Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Thursday as Moscow's forces continue to give the city no respite. "A little less than 2 million have fled the capital."

In recent days, as the Russian bombardments in Irpin and other suburbs of the capital intensified, the citizens of Kyiv have been flowing into the western city of Lviv, where tens of thousands of people have sought shelter since the beginning of the invasion.

Anastasya Stepanchuk, 28, was determined to stay in her home in the Kyiv suburbs with her husband, who is fighting to defend the capital.

As Russian forces started to press closer to the city, she decided to flee. She left behind an unrecognisable Kyiv, the cafes and shops shuttered and the streets full of roadblocks and anti-tank defences. It has become, says Klitschko, "a fortress, with every street, building and checkpoint fortified".

"I had to flee and I'm scared, because I left a lot of friends and, of course, my husband," she says. "I don't want to go abroad. I'm determined to go back to my city when things improve. Once Ukraine wins, I will come back to Kyiv to build it back. We all want to return and take part in the rebuilding."

Many of those forced to flee their city spoke of their fears of what they would find on their return.

Yulian Kondur, 28, a Kyiv resident who is now internally displaced, was forced to move to the outskirts of the capital when the war began.

"During the first bombing, a building two blocks from mine was hit," says Kondur, who is a coordinator at the charity Roma Women's Foundation Chirikli. "When I left, the city looked like a ghost town. Most of the people who are left live in the bomb shelters and some are helping others with food and other needs. Kyiv was very lively and peaceful, with people going to work every day and living their normal lives. The idea of going back and seeing Kyiv in this condition scares me a little."

In Lviv, doctors, soldiers and volunteers are also anxiously awaiting the arrival of people from Mariupol, a city that has experienced horrific bombardment by Russian forces. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called an attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol on Wednesday "an atrocity", with patients trapped under rubble in "apocalyptic" scenes. Preparations are being made to welcome more wounded and displaced people in the coming weeks and months as they leave cities across the country.

Olga, 30, arrived in Lviv with her four cats on Wednesday from Kharkiv, a major city near the eastern border with Russia which was among the first to be bombarded.

"It was very difficult to get out of the city. People are afraid of driving cars to reach the border or other areas of the country," she says. "There is little information and not everyone knows that there are buses to evacuate people.

"If you could let these people know that they can leave cities safely, you could save a lot of lives. But as long as the flyzone is open, people will continue to die."