Spanish traveller Alberto Blasco Ventas looked out at Ukraine’s destroyed Irpin bridge, blown up to stop Russian troops in 2022 and now a hotspot for thrill-seeking tourists visiting the country.
Russian forces had planned to cross the bridge during their attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, at the beginning of the war.
The Russian army has since retreated hundreds of kilometres away, but launches near-daily missile and drone strikes on Kyiv, the place Blasco Ventas chose for a holiday.
“It’s my first time in a war zone,” the 23-year-old software engineer said. “I’m a little bit scared, I’m not going to lie, because you never know.”
He was on a “dark tourism” tour offered by one of a dozen or so Ukrainian companies specialising in a marginal but growing sector – allowing tourists to visit locations of tragic events.
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