At first glance, in Kiev, life goes on: bars are full, young people frolic on Maidan Square. But it is enough to tighten the microphone, Tuesday February 8, to understand that the concern is there. A fear which does not paralyze the inhabitants, on the contrary which seems to galvanize them and mobilize the population. Young, less young, all social categories combined, all repeat it: we will fight! Throughout the country, groups for territorial defense are formed with civilians volunteering to become reservists. If total war breaks out, it will be necessary to lend a hand to the armed forces.
>> Crisis in Ukraine: on the border with Belarus, the population does not want to “believe in war”, but “no one will back down”
The Ukrainian government wants to enlist at least 130,000 volunteers and this is taking place in recruitment offices, like the one in central Kiev, where the phone keeps ringing. “Every three minutes, we receive a callexplains Pavlo, in charge of the office. Sometimes we have up to 90 calls a day!” The profiles that present themselves are mainly students, reservists, but also “housekeepers with children who want to train so they can defend their families”, he assures.
/2022/02/08/phpRV6FCJ.jpg)
To oversee these recruitments, one of the managers is called Shscherbina Mykhailo Yuriovych. He is the deputy director of municipal security in Kiev, he is a reserve colonel but above all a veteran of the war in the Donbass. His trellis already on his back, he says he is ready and displays a clear objective. “We are going to set up in Kiev, the largest territorial defense brigade in the country: 10 battalions, which represents 6,000 people. In the event of a conflict, our role will be to call them up, to equip them. They are civilians who work, who lead a normal life, but in the event of an emergency they are summoned. In the meantime, once a week, they train to use a weapon.”
/2022/02/08/phpveORbv.jpg)
The colonel Yuriovych would like to comment on the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron in Moscow and then in Kiev: “I really thank, as a Ukrainian, President Macron for the support he gives us in our struggle. But frankly speaking, the visits of European leaders only delay the crisis.”
“Russia wants to take control of Ukraine, and we are going to fight against that. As long as Putin is there, we are threatened, and the visits from the Europeans only give us a little respite, and give us time to to prepare.”
Colonel Yuriovych, reservist, Donbass veteranat franceinfo
Some go even further in their hatred of the Russian leader, such as the Ukrainian Legion, an organization with paramilitary overtones, made up of veterans and reservists. The members, between 29 and 47 years old, do not give their true identity, only their nom de guerre. Some very explicit like “The Saber”, others more quirky like “Luigi and Mario”. “We have a very pushy neighbor who wants to make friends with us a little too pushy for my taste, quips ‘The Saber’. To avoid this friendship that could decapitate us, we learn to tear off heads too.”
“In my opinion no civilized person in this world should negotiate with Putin, continues the paramilitary. It’s like an angry bear who possesses nuclear weapons, and who threatens the whole world. Russia is afraid of the civilized world knocking on its door, entering its home, and they don’t want that, they are afraid of that.”
Despite a conflict that has been going on for eight years, “Le Saber” is convinced that the Ukrainians will mobilize in the event of war: “NOTe are committed citizens, and it’s not just us! Many war-weary people who have returned home will return if all-out war breaks out. The Russians will not have to deal with hundreds of people, but with millions!” Before concluding : “They woke up the dragon, that is to say the Ukrainian people.