Putin wants to create an unliveable no man’s land in Ukraine

The residents of Velyka Pysarivka had almost finished renovating their municipal library. They laid the floor with large white tiles, built a special section for hundreds of brightly-coloured children’s books which they brought in from the city, and even painted a large cartoon giraffe with oversized spectacles on one wall to make the place feel welcoming.

Although the Ukrainian village was close to the Russian border it had, until last month, escaped the worst of the war. And with no end to the conflict in sight the townsfolk decided they had to get on with their lives and invest in the future.

Then, just over three weeks ago, huge Russian bombs began falling. One of them wrecked the new library. Another one destroyed the post office down the street. A third punched a huge hole in the village school. By the time the attack finished, four days later, the town had been almost completely gutted, the streets were strewn with bricks and rubble, and the children had all gone – evacuated by the Ukrainian authorities in convoys of buses.