Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Only a few hours after fleeing from Irpin, in the suburbs of Kyiv, Olha Shurova saw the building she has lived in for 15 years collapse under the Russian missiles on a TV screen.
“I left just in time,” said the young woman in a soft, steady voice.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY OLHA SHUROVA
Olha Shurova’s apartment in Irpin
“I was both shocked and relieved. It’s weird to feel all of that at the same time. Every day for almost a week, she has been tossing between hope and fear.
She left her apartment in a rush – a small bag in her hand, her cat Fox under her arm – to go to Kyiv to visit relatives. “I live near a military airport, so it was already better. »
PHOTO SERHII NUZHNENKO, REUTERS
Ukrainians are going to look for spared goods in their building in Irpine.
Accompanied by her husband and her parents, the musician and French teacher found herself in the middle of an unrecognizable capital.
On their way out, streets empty of civilians, but filled with soldiers. The few citizens are armed, the buildings are reduced to nothing, and the ground is strewn with twisted electric wires.
In Kyiv, we stayed in a basement without going out. We could hear explosions all the time. The shaking door. We quickly realized that it was too dangerous.
Olha Shurova, resident of Irpine
She has been in Kropyvnytskyi since Wednesday morning, “in an almost safe place”, she describes, emphasizing the “almost. »
320 kilometers from the Ukrainian capital, not an hour passes without a siren sounding. Whenever they hear it, Olha and her relatives rush with water and blankets into the “shelter”. A freezing, dusty basement with brick walls.
The strident alarms bring, of course, their share of panic: passers-by run in all directions, others rush to the supermarket and take everything they can, describes Olha.
“But otherwise, people here are very calm. They didn’t see what we saw in Kyiv. »
Once in the underground refuge, you never know when you will come out, she adds.
The small backpacks dragged throughout the journey are at the doorstep, always ready.
We can’t plan anything, but I think we’re gonna leave this town. It’s going to get riskier and riskier. I don’t know where we’re going.
Olha Shurova
No question of fleeing his homeland despite the instability and the danger, slice the 33-year-old artist in impeccable French. Perhaps she will send her parents to Poland, she continues, evasively. But she and her husband will not leave. “We are more useful here. For example, I translate documents into French for the local media. »
There is mobilization, but also the certainty of better days. “We will win very quickly, there is no doubt. We Ukrainians are all highly motivated, united and well organized. And we are on our land. »
Kharkiv under pressure
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Kharkiv police offices caught fire on Wednesday after a shelling.
As night fell on Wednesday, Andrii Rudenko was still waiting for his train in Kharviv, hoping to leave the city. “I didn’t want to run away, but my girlfriend told me she wouldn’t leave without me. »
They will travel to Lviv, near the Polish border. “If all goes well,” adds the young architect.
PHOTO SERGEY BOBOK, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Firefighters try to contain a fire in Kharkiv.
The bombs hit most of the country’s second city, 50 km from the Russian border. Virtually no sector has been spared, Andrii shudders.
The city is empty, he drops. Access to food and water is limited. When the echo of gunfire startled him earlier in the morning, he made the decision to flee.
I never thought I would leave my city, but I have to face the facts: it’s dangerous. I’m too angry to be sad or scared.
Andrii Rudenko, resident of Kharkiv
“There are parts of the city that are just erased. It will never be the same for Kharkiv again. »
Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million people near the border with Russia, was the target of bombardments on Tuesday, which left at least 10 dead and more than 20 injured, according to local authorities.
Relative calm in Kyiv
Universities, television stations, grocery stores: in Kyiv, many buildings have been ravaged by bombs in recent days, sighs Oles Sharyi, a photographer from the capital.
PHOTO LYNSEY ADDARIO, THE NEW YORK TIMES
A Ukrainian stands guard outside Independence Square in Kyiv.
He hasn’t left his apartment bathroom since the start of the Russian offensive. “I sleep in the bathtub. I still have food and water for the next four days. Then I’m going to have to go out…”
The building that houses it dates from the Soviet era. The toilets are at the far end of the small apartment.
I am protected by two very strong walls. I’m not totally safe, but I think I’ll survive.
Oles Sharyi, resident of Kyiv
He prefers that to an inhospitable basement with no ventilation.
Fear gave way to adrenaline. Then day after day, he got used to the sirens. “It’s calmer today. Only two explosions. The first days, it was about ten. »
Why stay? “I can’t explain it, but I know we’re going to win. »
Getting around is not so simple, he adds. The more the days advance, the more the Russian military will complicate the task of those who want to flee. “I’m no expert, but it’s an unpredictable conflict. They can bomb trains and bridges. I think that in my bathtub, I am in no more danger than those who try to leave. »
The Kyiv metro, the ultimate refuge for a population under the missiles
-
PHOTO GENYA SAVILOV, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Kyiv’s metro system, built in the early 1960s when memories of World War II and the bombings were still vivid, is being taken over by the city’s residents.
-
PHOTO LYNSEY ADDARIO, THE NEW YORK TIMES
It must be said that the stations were deliberately dug very deeply to be able to serve as shelter. That of Arsenalna, 105 m underground, is even the deepest in the world.
-
PHOTO LYNSEY ADDARIO, THE NEW YORK TIMES
Trains are no longer running, but the network’s 52 stations are open for those who don’t have shelter near their homes, which is the case for many residents of Kyiv, who often live in high bars. buildings very vulnerable to bombardment.
-
PHOTO ARIS MESSINIS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Each station can accommodate up to 1,000 people and can withstand the onslaught of rockets, mortars or Grad missiles used by the Russian armed forces on the city.
-
PHOTO ARIS MESSINIS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Up to 100,000 people could theoretically be accommodated there.
-
PHOTO GENYA SAVILOV, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The first families, some of whom had already been there for six days, understood that they were here to stay.
-
PHOTO LYNSEY ADDARIO, NYT
The head of the company that runs the subway, Viktor Braginsky, didn’t think that, in his lifetime, the subway would ever serve as a wartime shelter for an entire city.
-
PHOTO GENYA SAVILOV, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Among the refugees, some wonder what would happen to them if the streets of the capital fell to Russian forces.
1/8