Russia-Ukraine war: Irpin policeman remembers evacuation amid ongoing conflict

Before the Russian withdrawal from Kyiv and surrounding areas on April 2, suburbs and towns near the city's airport were pounded by rockets, artillery fire and aerial bombardment in an effort to break Ukrainian defences.

Entire city blocks of apartments were blackened by the shelling in Irpin, just 20 kilometres (12 miles) northwest of the capital, along a route where police Lt. Ruslan Huseinov patrolled daily.

Some of the most dramatic scenes from the early stages of the war were of the evacuation from Irpin, underneath a destroyed highway bridge, where thousands escaped the relentless attacks.

Huseinov was there for 16 days, organising crossings where the elderly were carried along muddy pathways in wheelbarrows.

Reconstruction work has begun on the bridge, where mangled concrete and iron bars hang over the river.

Clothing and shoes from those who fled can still be seen tangled in the debris. "This bridge was the road from hell," says 34-year-old Huseinov standing next to an overturned white van still lodged into a slab of smashed concrete.

"We got people out of (Irpin) because conditions were terrible — with bombing and shelling," he said. He recounted how many lost their children, siblings and members of their families.

Crosses made from construction wood are still nailed to the railings of the bridge to honour those lost and the effort to save civilians. "People witnessed our solidarity," says Huseinov, who grew up in Germany and says he would never again take the good things in life for granted. "In my mind, everything has changed: My values in life," he said. "Now I understand what we have to lose."