(Kiev) “They distributed the rifles, loaded them for us and here we are,” said Yuri Korchemniy, who had never held a weapon in his life before joining a battalion of civilians on Thursday ready to defend Kiev step by step. to the Russian enemy.
Posted at 7:38 p.m.
In the midst of the Russian invasion of his country, when the first Russian forces infiltrated the capital in less than 48 hours, the 35-year-old historian no longer hesitated.
Dozens of men from his neighborhood came like him the next day to pick up a Kalashnikov at the announced distribution point, a military truck filled with boxes of weapons, he says.
On Facebook and in the media, the Ministry of Defense is increasing calls for emergency enlistment in these “territorial defense” brigades, an institution created in 2015 to supplement the regular army.
From now on, it is enough to be between 18 and 60 years old and a passport to enlist. No training is required.
“We were given weapons at the military registration office. Now the situation is such that we cannot wait for a summons”, explains another volunteer, Volodymyr Moguila.
The electrician of a certain age, the gun rattling on his parka, rolls an old tire on the edge of a highway, to reinforce a makeshift barricade, near a Ukrainian tank.
“Yellow Armband”
Dressed in jeans, tracksuits, trainers or mismatched uniforms, civilian “territorial defense” volunteers are now omnipresent in Kiev, even more visible in number than regular force soldiers.
Sign of recognition: a small yellow armband, sometimes a simple round of tape, around the left arm. In a quasi-ghost town, the omnipresence of these volunteer brigades is obvious.
PHOTO DANIEL LEAL, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
A civilian who has taken up arms, wearing a yellow armband
The noose of the Russian army is tightening dangerously on the Ukrainian capital, and everyone is preparing for bloody battles.
In the evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky also alerted his country via a video address: “We cannot lose the capital. I address our defenders, men and women from all fronts: tonight the enemy will use all their forces to break through our defenses in the most vile, harsh and inhuman way. Tonight they will try to seize” Kiev.
But for the moment the Russian enemy, although present around the city, still remains invisible despite the first furtive fights in the Obolon district on Friday morning, north of Kiev.
The volunteers of the “territorial defense” of this district found themselves in spite of themselves in the front line of this first battle.
Their HQ is located a few meters from the place where a commando of three allegedly Russian armored vehicles sowed terror, opening fire on a civilian and crushing a car in its path.
The bleeding victim is still lying on the ground, examined by forensic experts, at the entrance to HQ.
” Not enough ”
But the volunteers no longer pay attention to it, busy receiving, in a certain nervousness, their rudiments of accelerated military training in the adjoining parking lot.
“We have a very powerful enemy in front of us”, justifies their commander, responding to the nom de guerre “Bob”.
The 51-year-old computer engineer, piercing blue eyes under his balaclava, brandishes his assault rifle. “It’s not enough to stop helicopters, not enough against tanks,” he said, calling for the help of the international community to supply the Ukrainians with arms en masse.
“We have to stop Moscow, we have to stop this enemy,” he insists.
Volunteer Roman Bondertsev, who has pledged to “not sit idle” at home while Russia invades his country, says he is ready to defend his city step by step, whatever the scenario. But he’s under no illusions.
“I had never taken a gun in my hands until today. What do you want ? We’ll try to do the best we can,” he replies, shrugging his shoulders.
“And if I get killed, there will be two ready to take my place,” he promises.