‘We are lucky to be alive’: Residents of Kyiv face reality of war as frontline approaches ever closer

Kim Sengupta talks to Kyiv residents whose homes are being destroyed even before Russian forces arrive in the city

Life was going on in the Ukrainian capital yesterday amid the violence and trepidation (Kim Sengupta)

Standing in a blackened room of what remained of his flat after the missile strike, Aleksandr Miankevich was thankful that he and his wife were still alive. In the next street Olena Derkach was hurrying along to visit her wounded soldier brother in hospital.

Half a mile away Anna Kucherenko was waiting in a long queue worrying about whether there will be anything left on the shelves to make a birthday cake for her seven year old son.

There were mutters of apprehension along the line at the sound of shelling in the distance. “I hope I can get the shopping done before that gets towards here,” she said.

Life was going on in the Ukrainian capital yesterday amid the violence and trepidation, the growing shortage of food and fuel with a rush to get things done before a curfew began at 8pm, one that was meant to last for 36 hours, but, there were rumours, that the time could be extended.

Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko, who was far better known internationally as a world heavyweight boxing champion before the war, had warned: “Today is a difficult and dangerous moment. That is why I ask Kyvians to get prepared to stay at home for two days, or, if the sirens go off, in the shelters.”

For a city that had been battered for 21 straight days since the war began, with fierce fighting in the towns just outside, there was foreboding about how much more dangerous the situation could get.

While residents were preparing for the lockdown three VIPs came into the Ukrainian capital. With air travel simply too dangerous with missiles and warplanes in the sky, the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia came in, with a touch of drama, by train.

Mateusz Morawiecki, Petr Fiala and Janez Jansa were the first allied European leaders to visit Ukraine since the war began.

After a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Morawiecki tweeted: “It is here, in war-torn Kyiv, that history is being made. It is here, that freedom fights against the world of tyranny. It is here that the future of us all hangs in the balance. EU supports Ukraine, which can count on the help of its friends – we brought this message to Kyiv today.”

A damaged building in Mostytska Street (Kim Sengupta)

What the three prime ministers did not bring with them was what Ukraine has been pleading for – the imposition of a no-fly zone, or the supplying of war planes. Poland had reportedly offered all its fleet of MiG-29 jets to Ukraine through an airbase, but Washington blocked the move as it would have made Nato entangled in the conflict.

Aleksandr Miankevich was one who held that more concrete action. rather than words from European allies, could have helped to alleviate destruction and suffering. The ten storey apartment block he lived in on Mostytska Street was hit when a Russian missile was struck by anti-aircraft fire, and the debris cascaded down on to the building killing three people and injuring several others.

The 55-year-old engineer woke up just after five in the morning with a premonition, he said, that something very bad was going to happen.

“We heard a rushing of air and then something crashed into the building,” he added. “Everything shook and we were thrown out of the bed. Then flames started coming up through the floor and things started catching fire. Then we started having water coming through the walls, the water system had burst,” he pointed hopelessly around him standing in a puddle.

Mr Miankevich had been caught up in another of Russia’s wars of the past, while he was working in Abkhazia during Kremlin’s conflict with Georgia.

“Of course I didn’t think something like that will happen again and that it would happen here to my home. Everything, valuable things have gone. My wife and I are very lucky to be alive, now we have to work out where we are going to stay” he said.

“These are homes of ordinary people which are being destroyed, if we had safe skies then this could have been avoided perhaps. I hope foreign governments will think again about this.”

A neighbour, Nataliya Hrysiuk, also wanted to talk about the lack of a “no-fly zone”. The 32-year-old doctor has been dealing with the human cost of the conflict, and felt the numbers of dead and injured could have been much reduced if international action had restricted Russia’s ability to attack.

“We are very grateful to our allies, countries like the UK, for all they had done. But we really hope they would do a bit more, a ‘no-fly zone’ would not only reduce the numbers of people getting killed and injured, it could help the fighting to end as well,” she said.

Ms Hrysiuk’s flat is still habitable, but her family want her to move because it would be in the path of a Russian advance from north through cities like Irpin which are being bitterly contested. “Let’s see what happens,” she said.

Shelling and air strikes took place overnight. But the rest of the day of curfew remained comparatively quiet in Kyiv.

People spoke to friends and neighbours on the phone about reports of progress being made towards a ceasefire. President Zelensky spoke to the US Congress in a virtual address comparing Ukraine under attack to Pearl Harbour and 9/11.

Aleksandr Miankevich was thankful that he and his wife were still alive (Kim Sengupta)

Perhaps realising that establishing a “no-fly zone” was not feasible at present he asked Joe Biden for jet fighters, advanced air-defence systems and more economic sanctions on Russia.

Yuri Marchenko, whose home was also damaged in the Mostytska Street attack watched and listened to President Zelensky’s address.

“He spoke well and they listened to him. I heard on TV that some of them [in Congress] were in tears. It is good they have sympathy for us, but we need more than that, we need arms, aircraft, that’s what will save Kyiv, save Ukraine,” was Mr Marchenko’s message on the phone. "Personally I want this curfew to be over, we should not be hiding, we should be getting on with our lives, show [Vladimir] Putin we are ready for him.”

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