Kyiv, Fighting Back

Ukrainian servicemen walk at fragments of a downed aircraft seen in in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. It was unclear what aircraft crashed and what brought it down amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine Russia is pressing its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital after unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides. (AP Photo/Oleksandr Ratushniak)

"I couldn't imagine this would happen. We are a war with Russia for eight years already, but this? It's insane.:

"I think we will go to Poland. I already have friends there, so I will be fine. If we can make it in, that is." 

Young Ukrainian woman, name withheld, Kyiv, Ukraine

"I knew something bad was coming, ever since Putin recognized [the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics] on Monday."

"But to wake up to Russian missiles was something else."

"I will go and make Molotov cocktails. I want to fight them. I went to the recruitment office today, but they said they wee only taking veterans [for active duty], so I decided on this."

Anya, 25-year-old designer, Kyiv   

 

"Yesterday I woke up from the noise of explosions, I saw flash fires. It was scary."  

"I feel very, very, very angry because it's not a normal situation. It's my country, it's my land, it's my city. And now all of us, all of Ukrainians are under attack. Multiple cities are under attack."  

"All the sanctions are good, but it's not enough. This war is not about only Ukraine and our independence and safety. We are a shield for you - Europe and the world."

Ksenia, resident of Kyiv

Kyiv residents seek shelter in a metro station after being urged by air sirens to find safety  Anadolu Agency

 

Reports emerged on Friday, the second day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, that Russian special forces had entered the city, some disguised in Ukrainian uniforms, engaged in a scheme directed by Vladimir Putin to put a quick end to the war by storming the government to take prisoner or kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and others governing the country along with him. That rumour was circulating mid-morning.

By early evening President Zelensky was on the streets of Kyiv, making himself very present, very visible, even as a disinformation rumour began spreading that he had left the country, taken up the offer proffered by the Biden Administration in the U.S., to have American military agents spirit him to safety. He made it be known that he planned to stay right there, along with Ukraine's soldiers, "fighting for our independence". 

Earlier in the day, automatic gunfire rang out in the city; bursts of small arms firing intermittently that could be heard from Ukraine's capital city centre. Air raid sirens sounded regularly throughout the day in response to the threat of Russian bombing raids, sending the city's residents to area air raid bunkers. Ironically, one of those bunkers is a metro station built during the Soviet era to withstand  nuclear attack.

 

On Friday, reports circulated that 50,000 Ukrainians had fled to Poland. Its border was jammed with refugees. Ukraine authorities had taken steps to intercept any vehicles with Ukrainian male civilians over the age of 18 and under 60, to stop them from leaving, to encourage them to enlist in service to their country, to help fight off the attackers. Authorities in Ukraine urged citizens to take up arms in defence of the capital. 

Automatic rifles would be available to anyone wanting to make use of them, and by late Friday 18,000 had been distributed. Other measures were circulating images explaining how Molotov cocktails could be produced; improvised explosives made by filling a bottle with oil and gasoline. Another touch of bitter irony, since the improvised explosive devices were a brainchild of a 1930s-era Russian general.

Older residents of the city were a trifle sanguine about the situation: "These Russians can't do anything to us. I survived the Soviet Union, I'll survive this, too", said one elderly resident. She had no plans to leave the city. "And where would I go? I'll stay right here", she laughed. "A few weeks in a shelter is easy enough."

From both the north and east, Russian armoured columns are closing in on Kyiv. To slow down their progress, Ukrainian forces have been detonating bridges. The city's thermal power station became victim to a Russian hit. As night fell on Friday, men with Kalashnikov assault rifles were on alert, guarding the metro shelters from the potential threat of Russian infiltration.

"Putin and his thugs can try to take Kyiv", said one of the guards holding a rifle. "Let them see how they will manage against three million of us." The piercing sound of intermittent air raid missiles forming the background.

Firefighters inspect damage at a building following a rocket attack on the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (Ukrainian Police Department Press Service via AP)