‘The city wants to finish off what Russia’s attacks began’: Kyiv residents fear property grab

Damaged historic buildings are allegedly among those developers wish to demolish for profit in complicity with the authorities

About an hour after air raid sirens sounded in the early hours of 10 August, residents on Yaroslavska Street in the heart of Kyiv's hip Podil district heard the crash of a building coming down.

Some looked out of their windows, expecting to see the smoking remains of a Russian missile. Instead, in the dawn light, two excavators were tearing apart an elegant 200-year-old mansion.