in Ukraine, after more than two years of war, air alerts are part of daily life

After more than two years of war, Ukrainians have learned to live to the rhythm of air alerts. To the point, sometimes, of no longer going to the shelters.

In northern Ukraine, Russian troops are claiming the capture of new localities in the Kharkiv region. At the border, the bombings are incessant. Ukraine has announced the withdrawal of its forces in certain areas while in kyiv, the capital, life continues as it does, but still to the rhythm of air alerts. Alerts which are now so much a part of daily life that city residents do not always go to shelters.

Right in the center of kyiv, the Arsenalna metro station is among the deepest in the world, 105 meters underground. At 1:05 p.m., the siren sounded. In yellow vests, a dozen children from a school located five minutes away sit on mats with Anastasia, their guide. “When we run to the shelter, each child can ask us what awaits us or if we will reach it quickly enoughshe confides. So it remains difficult, but we are strong. And our children need to hang on too. There is no other solution.”

Standing in a corner with her 10-year-old daughter, Anna comes from the Khmelnytskyi region, further west. She lives next to a military airfield targeted by Shahed drones and Kindjal missiles. She’s used to it, she says : “When we were on the way here, I said to myself : in the event of an alarm, we will go directly to the metro. It’s a big city, there may be falling debris. In kyiv, it remains much riskier than at home.” But at home, at night, she no longer takes the trouble to go down to the shelter. “Like many Ukrainians, we are no longer going anywhere, she said. And she adds : “Our air defense men protect us. We love and trust them.”

With a shaved head, Roman, 26, is a soldier in the National Guard. If he waits patiently in the metro, it is not that he wanted to take shelter, it is that the traffic on his line, partly aerial, is suspended for the duration of the alert. : “We no longer go down to the shelters, even when we hear explosions and rocket fire, because the shelter closest to my house is quite far away, he explains. If you think about it, it’s more dangerous to go there than to stay at home. So I sit inside, and if necessary, we take refuge in the hallway.”

1:45 p.m., end of alert. It only lasted about forty minutes. In an instant, everyone disappears, eager to get back to their day.