Some of the last people to leave the town near Kyiv describe constant noise, near misses and unbearable conditions
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Every few minutes, an ambulance or an unmarked white van arrives at a dusty courtyard on the western outskirts of Kyiv and an elderly, frail person is helped – or sometimes stretchered – from the back.
These are some of the last residents of Irpin, a commuter town a few miles from Kyiv. They are those who were too old, too frail or too sick to leave earlier. Instead they have endured a month of hell as Russian forces pushed into the surrounding area during the first days of the war. The town has seen heavy fighting and has come under intense Russian bombardment.