Report from under fire

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Despite the festive mood of Ukrainians after the liberation of Kherson, most citizens understood: Russia would not allow them to calmly rejoice at the deoccupation of Ukrainian territories. Many expected shelling to target the country's critical infrastructure. On November 15, the forecasts of the authorities and residents of Ukraine came true. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Russia fired ninety missiles into Ukraine in one day. Vladimir Enzo talks about life in Kyiv on the day of massive shelling.

Author
Author
Vladimir Enzo

War is part of the terrible everyday life

The leadership of the Kyiv region warned citizens in advance about the threat of Russian rocket fire. Despite this, establishments with access to the Internet were usually filled with visitors, shops continued to work, and Kiev residents were in no hurry to go down to bomb shelters, preferring to resolve everyday issues even to the sounds of an air raid raid. It seems that the threat of shelling in the ninth month of a full-scale war has become commonplace for Ukrainians.

For the first time in two weeks, explosions occurred in Kyiv at three o'clock in the afternoon. After air defense work, a fragment of a Russian missile fell on a residential building in the city center, next to multi-story office buildings and residential complexes. As Kyiv resident Alexey says, Russian shelling prevented him from visiting the murals of the English anonymous street art artist Banksy, who recently visited the Ukrainian capital.

“I live in the Pechersky district, in the very center of the city, not far from the government quarter. My friend and I were getting ready to go look at the murals when a loud explosion sounded. It sounded like thunder, but we realized that the air defense was working on us. There haven’t been similar [explosions] for a long time. Some immediately ran to the shelter, others reacted casually and continued to go about their business as if nothing had happened.

At such moments you wonder: what are they [Russian troops] trying to achieve? Why is this? Nightmare the population? What will this give them? This will not affect the military situation in any way, and the people have already shown that they will survive any shelling

- says Alexey.

After the explosion and information about a hit in a residential building, the citizens of the Ukrainian capital listened to the recommendations of the head of the regional military administration, Alexei Kuleba, and there were much fewer people on the streets of the Ukrainian capital. Only utility workers and construction workers did not react to the next arrival of a Russian missile and, after taking a planned break for coffee and a cigarette, continued to work in the open air

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Apocalypse Now

During air raids, bars and eateries turn from work offices into shelters for citizens who prefer to wait out the threat of shelling with light. But on November 15, many establishments lost electricity. Despite the large number of missiles and Iranian drones shot down by air defense systems, as a result of a massive attack, Russian shells hit critical infrastructure and emergency power outages began in a number of areas.

Bolshaya Vasylkivska Street is one of the main roads in Kyiv. A few hours after the rocket attack, she was completely plunged into darkness. In one of the bars, a group of friends is waiting for the end of the air raid warning. After turning off the lights, the establishment switches to a unique operating system that is rarely found in the capital - operation using a car battery. During the shooting, the bar turns into a wasteland machine from the movie Mad Max: Fury Road. You can charge your phone only through the cigarette lighter, and Ozzy Osbourne songs become the background to angry discussions of the Russian invaders. As employees admit, this way the bar can work for four hours. At busy tables, interlocutors discuss arrivals, share news and try to get through to relatives. Over time, this opportunity disappears: Internet outages begin in the city.

“It feels like we are in a post-apocalyptic world. The situation “five years later”. We are sitting in the bunker, stocked up on food and beer. We go out only to replenish supplies and kill zombies,” the visitors discuss in the “shelter.”

Lights and beauty salons have returned

After the air raid ends, light begins to appear in the center. The red line of the metro does not work, so due to the congested situation on the roads, taxi prices rise at least twice. Couriers who did not leave the streets even during shelling talk about the peculiarities of work during the war.

Often, during an alarm, only large chain restaurants close: McDonald's and KFC. Therefore, shelling does not greatly affect work, and people, on the contrary, only order more because they do not want to leave their homes. It happens that all establishments close completely - this happened on the tenth of October

- says the Glovo delivery courier.

Life is gradually returning to the capital, restaurants are again beginning to fulfill their tasks and are no longer used as shelters from Russian missiles. In beauty salons on the first floors of apartment buildings, the lights are on again, women in the window are discussing haircuts.

November 15 in Kyiv. Photos: Vladimir Enzo.

In the evening, recalling the chronology of a hard day, in one of the Kyiv bars, residents of the capital joke:

When the shelling starts, you need to go to the military bases. This is the safest place, since the Russians only fight with residential buildings