“Here, we don’t hear the knocks”, explain residents of Kharkiv who have taken refuge for months in the metro

Zoya steps out of the subway for some fresh air. She’s been living underground for four months now. “My apartment was badly affectedsays the Ukrainian, impassive. During the day, I go there to wash myself, prepare food… At night, I come back here, in the metro. You don’t hear the knocks here.” She took up residence at the station Heroes of Labour, the terminus of the line that goes to Saltivka. This former dormitory town was built for workers in Soviet times. It is also the closest station to the front line, only 20 km away. The neighborhood is regularly targeted by Russian missiles.

“At home, I don’t sleep at night. I’m scared, it’s very difficult for morale.”

Zoya, refugee in the subway

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Like Zoya, Natalya is one of the 150 people who live as recluses in the metro of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city. 150 irreducible people who have been sleeping in tents set up on the platform or on mattresses for four or six months. Natalya’s building overlooks the Russian border and suffered extensive damage. The Ukrainian was afraid for her 8-year-old daughter.

An alarm sounds outside. This sound no longer surprises Natalya: “Rocket launchers can fire any time of the day. We’ve gotten used to it and you’re like, ‘Rockets? Are you okay…’ What’s really scary is the missiles that come at night.”

“How long will it last? We hope that by the end of the year we will all be back home.”

The head of volunteers

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Twice a day, a restaurant provides meals to the last occupants of the metro. A small room has been transformed into a kitchen with a fridge and a microwave oven. These devices were purchased thanks to the money collected by a Japanese, who lives in the neighborhood and shares the daily life of the inhabitants.

For the head of the volunteers at the Héros du Travail station, the hope of being able to return home in a few weeks is not dead: “We have total confidence in our army. It’s not comfortable here, but at least we’re calm.” The Kharkiv metro is the last refuge for those castaways of war who have chosen life underground. Before returning, one day, to the surface.