"This is Murder. Deliberate Murder"

"We will not forgive the shooting of unarmed people. Destruction of our infrastructure."

"We. Will. Not. Forgive. Hundreds and hundreds of victims. Thousands and thousands of sufferings. And God will not forgive. Not today. Not tomorrow. Never. And instead of Forgiveness, there will be a Day of Judgement."

"It seems everything Russian servicemen have already done is still not enough for them. Not enough ruined destinies. Mutilated lives. They want to kill even more."

"Tomorrow Russia has officially announced the shelling of our territory. Our enterprises. Defence complex. Most were built decades ago. By the Soviet government. Built in cities. And now they are in the middle of an ordinary urban environment. Thousands of people work there. Hundreds of thousands live nearby."

"This is murder. Deliberate murder."

"And I have not heard a reaction from any Western politician. Reaction to this announcement. Think about the sense of impunity of the invaders: they announce their planned atrocities. Why?"

"Because there is no reaction. Because there is silence. Not a word, as if Western leaders have dissolved tonight. For this day, I hope that at least tomorrow you will notice it. React. Say something. We know exactly who prepared this attack. We know exactly how orders will follow the vertical command. We know everything."

"And we will not forgive anything. The Tribunal is waiting for you. And God's judgement, if you try to hide."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

"There was heavy shelling in Irpin."

"They fired at houses, people. A woman and a 13-year-old child died. A few people are left here."

"It is hard and scary. It is a war, it is fascism, it is genocide against the whole of Ukraine."

Galya Fedorchuk, exiting Irpin, Ukraine, for shelter elsewhere

A man carries an elderly woman as a group of people walk through an improvised path created under a bombed bridge over the Irpin River, in Ukraine, March 8, 2022. (Yan Boechat/VOA)

Irpin is shedding its population in an effort to escape advancing Russian forces. On their way to Kyiv, the capital, and since Irpin is a mere 20 km distance, it gave Russian troops the opportunity to rehearse what it means to unleash on Kyiv, the prize for the Kremlin. Its capture, after being encircled for a week, will be a treasured gift for Vladimir Putin: mission accomplished. 

 

The softening-up process; fear at the imminence of the attack; long-range bombing to reduce infrastructure, aiming not only at government buildings, military installations, but apartment blocks, hospitals, schools.

 

If civilians die, this is the cost of war, particularly war inflicted on a people and a country that have no wish to go to war to defend themselves from capture and destruction as a state. Recent shelling has reduced Irpin to a fraction of what it had been. As for the population, few are left in the destroyed town. Yet its people continue crossing the Irpin River, moving south toward Kyiv, on Monday. 

 

The day before a woman, her teen son and younger daughter, along with a male friend accompanying them evacuated toward a 'safe route' but nowhere is safe now in northeastern Ukraine. All four were killed outright by direct mortar fire. Rather than evacuate at an earlier date, the mother had been detained in Irpin to care for her ailing mother. Furnishing yet more gruesome photographs to circulate on social media, of the four sprawled on the roadside, immobilized in death.

 

A woman embraces her son after escaping the little town of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 8, 2022. Thousands of civilians were trapped in the city, which has been a battleground for Ukrainian and Russian forces. (Yan Boechat/VOA)

 

People carrying backpacks with whatever worldly possessions and critical identifying items, fleeing along a route believed to be safe, until struck by a mortar round. Irpin evacuees using a damaged bridge fording the Irpin River, during an agreed-upon ceasefire, only to discover that the advancing Russian forces broke the ceasefire. An exposed street had to be crossed by fleeing civilians on the Kyiv side of the bridge. Families in small groups risking a run while Ukrainian solders dart out to pluck young children to safety.

The first mortar shells struck 100 yards from the bridge, and then a series of "thunderous blasts" hit a street section where people were dashing onward. Ukrainian soldiers rush forward to try to help, but it's too late. "This is Murder. Deliberate Murder."

Around Irpin, Ukrainian troops have been obstructing the Russian advance, but it seems inevitable given the inequality in military hardware and growing troop numbers that there will come a time in the near future when the advance can no longer be delayed. About 30 percent of the town is occupied by Russian forces; elsewhere in the town Ukrainian control still prevails. Most evacuations occur without residents coming under fire.

There is a notable increase on the Russian military's growing reliance on longer-range strikes targeting Ukraine, seen in the steadily increasing number of civilian casualties and resulting damage to civilian infrastructure. "More civilians are being killed and wounded ... and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin still has a choice", grimly observed Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. Who also commented that the U.S. believes Russian forces have failed to make major progress in the north and northeast of Ukraine.

According to Dmitry Peskov speaking for Vladimir Putin, the independence of Ukraine is an accepted fact but certain terms must be met to gain a ceasefire, including the recognition by Ukraine of Moscow's right to rule Crimea and the independence accepted by Ukraine of the two Russian-held separatist regions of Donesk and Luhansk. Kyiv must as well meet the Kremlin's expectation that it surrender its ambitions to join both NATO and the European Union.

 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, following the third round of talks without progress, stated that Ukraine needs direct talks to take place between President Zelenskyy and President Putin.

"We have long wanted a direct conversation between the president of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, because we all understand that it is he who makes the final decisions, especially now."

"Our president is not scared of anything, including a direct meeting with Putin. If Putin is also not scared, let him come to the meeting, let them sit down and talk."

Civilians who were trapped in the little town of Irpin escape from the battles through an improvised path created alongside a bombed bridge by Ukrainian forces, in Irpin, Ukraine, March 8, 2022. (Yan Boechat/VOA)