Lisa Lukyanova may seem an unlikely recruit for the country’s army, which is facing a battle for survival from a military machine with 2.9 million troops and reserves.
She is 43, a mother of two and learning to become a website developer.
But she is also a trained doctor and has seen the chilling reality of Russian aggression after she was forced to leave her home eight years ago.
“I know what it’s like to run away,” Lukyanova said. “But now we have nowhere to run. Besides, I don’t want to run.
Yesterday, she joined thousands of other Ukrainians in responding to their president’s call for military reservists to move forward as the country goes to war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the move – which could double the size of Ukraine’s army by an additional 250,000 troops – and said: “We are ready for anything.”
Pictured: 43-year-old Lisa Lukyanova, a trained doctor, is among thousands who responded to a call by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called on military reservists to move forward.
His government is also preparing to impose a state of emergency in Ukraine as Moscow moves troops and tanks closer to the conflict’s front line.
Zelenski’s original proposal – to temporarily ban political parties, restrict the movement of people, ban strikes, seize cars from citizens, restrict mass rallies and impose curfews – was returned by parliament yesterday. as it was considered too draconian.
Last night, an amended measure was adopted to ban strikes and mass events.
Lukyanova fled her hometown of Luhansk after a 2014 Moscow-backed separatist uprising led to the region being declared an independent pro-Russian “republic.”
I met her in front of the military enlistment building in Kiev, where she joined others in preparing for frontline duties. In front of her was an engineer, behind her came a woman in her early 20s.
Under a new law, women in key positions are included in the list of reservists, along with all men under the age of 60, including servicemen who have served in the armed forces.
Yaroslav, 21, soldier, 25th airborne brigade of the Ukrainian army in Avdievka, Ukraine
“If there is a full-scale war, I will be sent to a military unit as a medic, so I will have to leave my studies,” Lukyanova said.
Her 21-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son do not want her to join the army.
“They are worried that I will be in danger, but I try to explain to them that we are all in danger and I am doing it for them.”
Her husband, who is fighting separatists and Russians in Donbas, is also rejoining the army.
The volunteer reservists were praised by Ukraine’s military leader, Valery Zaluzhny, who called on people to go “en masse” to recruitment centers.
A 41-year-old man named Victor said it was difficult to leave his three children as a divorced father who stays at home.
Elena (center) 26, learns how to handle automatic weapons, while civilian volunteers from Obukhov’s Civil Defense Forces train together in preparation for a possible Russian invasion
He served in the army 20 years ago and explained: “Recent events leave me no choice – I have to defend the country.”
He was joined by his girlfriend, a 33-year-old psychology student, Yana Kaminska, who fears Ukraine will be attacked from all sides by Putin’s forces.
As further signs of a possible invasion, Russia evacuated its diplomats from Kiev with a video showing officers loading suitcases into cars in the capital and burning documents at the consulate in the Black Sea port of Odessa – a possible target for its armed forces.
The government in Kiev told all Ukrainians living in Russia – about three million people
Meanwhile, another cyberattack targeted Kiev’s parliament, security services, the defense ministry, Kiev’s mayor’s office and several banks – the second major attack in eight days.
The previous attack traced Russia, China, the Czech Republic and Uzbekistan.
It can be seen that a column of Russian military vehicles is moving towards the Donbass region of Ukraine
Police also detained 34 people after it was found that up to 1,000 had to be paid to protest violence in prison in front of the Kiev Ministry of Justice headquarters, according to reports.
The plan follows the pattern of recent weeks with the previous discovery of a secret conspiracy to destabilize Ukraine by provoking violent clashes – with hundreds of people paid to fight police and fake blood used to create propaganda videos of allegedly beaten protesters.
Such incidents are linked to fears of events under a false flag, organized by Moscow to inflame tensions and provide a possible pretext for invasion.
Meanwhile, President Zelensky met with 50 leading business figures and announced a package of measures to strengthen the economy, which has been hit hard by the effects of Russia’s hybrid war.
His advisers say the crisis – estimated to have left Ukraine with a £ 206bn bill since 2014 – currently costs the country £ 2bn a month as its currency plummets and troubled companies relocate staff to safety. place.
No wonder many Ukrainians fear that their nation is facing an existential crisis on several fronts.
“We are facing a military invasion and I have two teenage children to defend,” said Sergei Shchevelev, 43, a rescue diver who was at the army’s recruiting center in Kiev.
In an unshakable statement echoed throughout Ukraine, he said: “This is my land and I will defend it at all costs.”
Additional report by Kate Baklitskaya