Viktor, 23, Sofiia, 18, and their dog, Teddy, were bedding down for the night on Thursday at the Dorohozhychi metro station three stops from Kyiv’s city centre. The couple have sheltered here “every night for the past three weeks”, Viktor said, as the missile threat to the city worsened; the dog, only three months old, has been with them a fortnight. Teddy lies quietly, knowing no different a life.
People sleeping at Dorogozhychi metro station for safety.
The atmosphere in the Ukrainian capital has shifted in the past couple of months as the war has returned more sharply to the home front. Russian high-speed ballistic missiles are routinely targeting the city and Ukraine’s military have run out of the interceptors from the only weapon system that can stop them, US-made Patriots. The anxiety that hangs over the wartime city has intensified.
(Clockwise from top left): Vitalii clears debris from around his damaged car with the help of a neighbour; the aftermath of a Russian night attack on Solomyanskiy district; a woman rests near the site of the attack.
“Before, if you heard an air-raid warning you still had time to pack your stuff and get to the shelter. Now you have a warning and then in 30 seconds you have explosions, so you have no time,” Sofiia said. A night earlier, a wave of missiles targeted the city within minutes of the first warning, at 11.51pm. Sixteen people were reported killed after the missiles struck locations including residential blocks in the suburbs. Warnings of drone attacks followed for several more hours, fraying nerves after the opening hits.Russian ballistic missile attack sets Kyiv skyline ablazeCity dwellers had been fearing a big attack on Wednesday night. It had been a few days since the last one – and there were also reports that Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers were flying to the war zone. They launch cruise missiles, but their presence in the air heralds a wider missile and drone attack. The lower hall at Dorohozhychi metro was packed by 10pm that night, Viktor said, with tents or people lying on ground sheets, almost no space left for the couple as they arrived.Earlier on Thursday, in the morning, the grim aftermath of the missile strikes on residential areaswas clearly visible. Two missiles struck the Solomianskyi district west of the centre, one shearing off the top floor of a 10-storey apartment block, killing two people, the second crashing into a disused building in the centre of a car park, reducing it to a scatter of rubble, while local people tried to see if there was any hope for their cars – the ones that were not completely burnt out.Kyiv book market burns after Russian missile strikeThe rear end of Vitalii’s car was smashed in by the blast, and it appears to be a write-off. The 42-year-old said he works for an insurance company, yet admitted he had not insured his own vehicle. After a while, however, the car started, remarkably, its engine having faced away from the blast. At first the impact of the overnight attack may be financial, but Vitalii said its real effect will be psychological. “We are alive, our arms and legs whole. We will go on. But now it will be more scary.”
