Standing next to a Chernobyl checkpoint, Vasily Davidenko recalled the day Russia invaded. “They were hooligans,” he said, pointing to a tourist kiosk shot up and adorned with the words “Chernobyl ice-cream”. Next to a pockmarked bus stop was debris left behind by Vladimir Putin’s army: machine-gun bullets, cigarette packets and an empty tin of tuna.
“It was a difficult time. People are worried the Russians might come back,” Davidenko said. He added: “I talked to the Russian soldiers as they drove past. They were young guys from Siberia. They asked me: ‘Batya [Dad], how are you living?’ I answered: ‘We are fine here, thanks very much.’”
