Volunteers are rebuilding Kyiv’s suburbs as Russia continues to pound Ukraine

The workers quickly shovel mounds of rubble off the beige carpet and into wheelbarrows, then dump it down a makeshift chute. They leave only a dusty pile of children’s books before moving on to the next room. With the roof mostly burned out of this apartment building on the outskirts of Kyiv, due to previous Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital, the sun beats down on the volunteers as they work methodically to make the devastated homes livable again. Popova was the first to return to the damaged apartment building in Myla. Her home on the second story was largely spared. “When I came back my windows were blown out and there was a lot of debris. (But) the roof and the upper floors were totally destroyed,” Popova said. “But no matter how hard it is, there is no place like home,” she added. “When you are at home, the walls calm you down.”