The remains of Borodyanka’s music school have been cleared into several piles of twisted metal. Completely destroyed in fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, the rest of what is left of the building is now neatly raked dust.
Municipal workers have done a remarkable job of cleaning up the debris since Russian forces withdrew from the area at the end of March. But there is no hiding the devastation in Borodyanka, the most badly damaged of the towns north-west of Kyiv, which bore the brunt of Moscow’s failed attempt to take the capital after the invasion began on February 24.
The music school is on Central Street, where advancing Russian tanks met ferocious resistance from Ukrainian forces. On the same road, the post office, municipal administration building, district administration office, police headquarters, a cultural centre and several apartment blocks have all been destroyed.