Ukrainian volunteers seek to save the living in a suburban ghost town outside Kyiv

IRPIN, Ukraine — Maxim Chevchenko pulled his Camry to the side of the road, his eyes anxiously scanning for any sign of Russian soldiers on the edge of Irpin's central park.

"I have to check on my friend," he said.

Somewhere close by, the erratic drumbeat of artillery, rockets and bullets rang out. But Chevchenko calmly stepped out of the car and walked to a stretch of weeds.

There, resting on its back with arms open, was the body of a friend, Pasha Li, a 33-year-old Ukrainian actor turned reservist. Li appeared to have been shot dead days earlier by Russian forces as they advanced into this northwestern suburb of Kyiv. Chevchenko kneeled and looked at the face.

"His mother thought maybe he was alive," he said in a low voice, his usually