Even if the front around the capital seems to have stabilized in recent days, the Ukrainians, military or civilian, are preparing for the battle of Kiev, which the Russians could launch. On a major axis north of Kiev, between shopping centers on one side and popular apartment blocks on the other, we discover scenes reminiscent of the worst hours of the world wars: men digging trenches in the capital Ukrainian.
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Yevgeny thus distinguishes himself from the other men in the neighborhood: he has no weapon in his hand, but is holding a shovel. This former bar owner digs a trench on the central reservation of this 2×2 lane, in order to build a shelter in order to repel the Russians and hold the position. “We cannot do nothing. I, for example, saw through the window that guys were digging trenches. It was the third day of the war. It’s nothing difficult. We dig, we put the sand in bags, we defend ourselves, we wait for the enemy.” he explains.
War in Ukraine: diving in the shelters dug with shovels by the inhabitants of Kiev. The report by Vanessa Descouraux and Marc Garvenes
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The construction of this shelter, which recalls another war, another century, was decided by Sergui, the armed volunteer in charge of the fortifications of this exposed sector: “The safety of our men is the main priority. The deeper we dig these trenches, the safer it will be for them. It doesn’t matter if it’s reminiscent of World War I or World War II, those are the rules of war. We are all from Kiev, we have no reason to run away.”
In this underground shelter with a sandy floor and where you cannot stand up with a height of 1m20.1m30 at most, the walls are made of concrete. Part of the ceiling is also consolidated in concrete. Pieces of wood are arranged to complete the construction of this shelter. Each timevgueni digs and extracts sand, he fills bags which will then be used to protect the roadblocks of the volunteers a little further. “No one expected this war, but everyone is getting organized quickly. At first we were shocked and now we are all in on the action. In the end, it’s good that the Russians are coming to give us trouble.” he brags.
“Now nothing will stop us. We will take back our stolen lands, Crimea and other territories.”
Yevgeny took more than a day to build his underground shelter. Yet that was the goal he had set himself. The reason: problems getting all the materials to arrive. The other designated volunteers could not help him in the end, being sent at the last minute for combat training.