A collection of Russian tanks and smashed armoured vehicles stand in the center of a large square in Kyiv, a monument of death in the heart of the city that has only recently begun to come back to life.
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Some of the charred vehicles, which were displayed to lift the population's morale, still housed the half-burnt shoes and uniforms of Russian soldiers who died inside them. All around, people are rushing to work, with cars surrounding the square. Kyiv persevered, while the Russian troops are gone.
Contrary to early calculations, the Ukrainian army managed to halt Russian President Vladimir Putin's war machine, but whether it will succeed in completely defeating it remains uncertain. Although headlines about the Ukraine war have mostly disappeared from the news outlets, in many regions of Ukraine, especially in the east, the war continues, threatening to overtake it all.
Authorities are reporting hundreds of casualties every day, and there is fear that Ukraine's lines of defense will be defeated. Until that happens, if at all, life in Kyiv goes on. Israel Hayom traveled to the Ukrainian capital as part of a delegation of 2141 Club, a social initiative of ex-IDF commanders aspiring to form Israel's future leadership.
"When the war broke out, we realized we could not stand to the side and began sending aid missions to refugees at border crossings," one of the founders of 2141 Club, Stas Grinberg, said.
Fellow founder Peter Gizunterman added, "This is the club's fifth delegation, and after our people spent hundreds of hours in the freezing cold in refugee camps and border crossings with Poland, this time we wanted to understand what the war looked like inside Ukraine."
The group provided the refugees with food, water, and other necessities, and those elderly and disabled with wheelchairs and medical supplies.
"The line seemed never-ending, and we did all to alleviate some of their suffering," Nissim Tal, who volunteered in Ukraine, said.
While central Kyiv seems to almost have recovered from the scars of the war, the outskirts of the city are full of ruined buildings, destroyed gas stations, and blown-up bridges.
In Bucha, where the Russian army is said to have committed genocide, between 300 to 450 innocent civilians were killed and buried in mass graves. And although Russian troops caused significant damage to the village, they did not destroy it completely, with some homes having remained unscathed.
Rostik, our local guide, took us to the building that used to house the headquarters of the Russian forces. On the second floor, they would torture Ukrainian soldiers in pairs: one would watch his friend being tortured, and then the captives would swap roles. In the end, both were shot.
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