A few days ago, Russian troops approached the outskirts of Kyiv. Fierce fighting takes place daily north of the city, about thirty kilometers from the center. Between numbness, rage and tears, those who did not run live in slow motion in a ghost town, to the rhythm of sirens and the roar of battle. France 24 came out to meet with residents of the Ukrainian capital.
“This is my therapy,” he tells us. Barely reaching his house, a huge tower in the south of Kyiv, Yuri Podorozhny leads us to the terrace on the 13th floor. “Every morning I come to see if the huge flag flying over the central bank of Ukraine is still there, as well as the statue of the Motherland, the iconic monument of the city,” he explains.
Every morning, Yuri goes out to the terrace of his house to make sure that Kyiv has not fallen © David Gormezano
Since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, this academic-turned-political communications adviser now lives alone in his apartment. His wife and daughter went into exile. After Lvov in western Ukraine, then Berlin, they took refuge in Sweden, where one person provided them with an apartment.
Cheerful character, Yuri continues his story at full speed, tirelessly. But this morning, tears are starting to roll down her cheeks. His daily life is shattered: just two weeks later, his 12-year-old daughter is separated from him and lives thousands of miles from Kyiv. Absurd and unrealistic, but only four families remained on the twenty floors of his house.
Reunification with his family is not on the agenda because after the imposition of martial law the day after the Russian invasion, men between the ages of 18 and 60 can no longer leave the country. At 48, he can still be drafted into the army, or he can be drafted into the territorial defense, a corps of armed volunteers who defend the country.
In his kitchen, he comes to his senses to answer questions from Ukrainian television via Skype with a strong and confident voice. A connoisseur of political life, he reiterates that war was inevitable for anyone who could decipher the true intentions of the Russian president. “The war will be long because Putin hates Ukrainians. The killing of Ukrainians is what he calls denazization. He lies, he manipulates, and what he really wants is to establish a pro-Russian regime.” he explains to us.
In front of his computer, Yuri participates in a TV show, his wife and daughter now live in Sweden. © David Gormesano
While preparing food for the caretaker of the house, who can no longer return home and now sleeps there, he adds: “We know how to resist the Russians. Army long after the end of World War II, before 1953.
Yuri’s house was devastated. According to the mayor of Kyiv, half of the 3.5 million inhabitants have left the city. © David Gormesano
On this beautiful cold morning, Yuri explains to us that he must go to the premises of the territorial defense, which instructed him to do “administrative work”. We offer to give him a lift in his car, and before leaving us, in the middle of a huge avenue in the completely empty Ukrainian capital, he assures us that “while we are there, Kyiv will resist.”
“Love and rage give me the strength to live and live”
In another district in the south of Kyiv, Natalia arranged a meeting a few hundred meters from her house. The girl walks towards us with an aikido stick in her hand and immediately explains to us that “she cannot protect me from projectiles, but I feel calmer when she is with me. I feel more secure because no one knows what will happen tomorrow.” , or even after a second or after a minute. It’s a very difficult situation.”
Natalya only leaves the house for supplies, often with her aikido stick “to calm down”. © David Gormesano
We follow her into this area of detached houses surrounded by vegetable gardens. Along the way, she explains that her comrade has been a soldier for 3 years and that he is fighting in Mariupol, a city in southern Ukraine that has been tortured by the Russian army. “Every day I write to him on Telegram, but for 9 days now I have seen that he has not been in touch. I have no news and I’m very worried.”
Natalia, who worked for an agricultural company, takes us to her “women’s house”. There she lives with her mother, a neighbor who cannot be alone, a cousin of the family who lost her husband in the bombing of the Kiev airport on the first day of the war, and son Alexander.
The four women support each other and organize to cope with everyday life, which the war makes difficult. “We have food, a basement, running water, heating, internet, telephone. We also have running water. Most shops are closed, but there is a supermarket next door that opens from time to time. Milk, fresh cheese, meat, pasta, it all depends on the day. You never know when it will open and what you will find. I buy a lot more than we need because no one knows what’s going to happen.”
Before the war, Natalia worked in agriculture. For 9 days she has not had any news from her companion, a Ukrainian soldier who got into battle near Mariupol. © David Gormesano
At night, they go down to the basement they have equipped to sleep with some comfort and prepare for long trials, because none of them is going to leave Kyiv yet. According to the mayor, former boxer Vitali Klitschko, half of its inhabitants survived from a city of almost 3.5 million people.
Natalya and her son Alexander in the basement of their house, where they are currently sleeping. © David Gormesano
Natalia talks with calmness and determination about this daily life, consisting of canned fruits and vegetables from the garden, but also about the unbearable waiting. “I feel two things, it’s like two wings for me. Love for your Motherland, for my man who protects us. And more rage. two feelings give me the strength to be alive and live.
From the height of her 36 years, Natalia seems strong and determined. In addition to her aikido stick, she shows us an ax and a baseball bat that she left at the entrance to the house. And she has a hunting knife on her belt. But she also says that she experiences intense anxiety and a sense of isolation when very loud explosions are heard intermittently.
“We do not know how much longer we will be safe in Kyiv. That’s why I clean everything in the house every day. Because I know that tomorrow there may be no water or electricity. Every day we hear explosions. and not at the front, because I have an 8-year-old son and a mother who can hardly move. I have no choice. Otherwise, I will be at the front with the men and women who defend our Motherland.”
On large avenues blocked by checkpoints and concrete blocks, cars do not stop, and a few passers-by line up in front of pharmacies and supermarkets that are still open. On Monday, a missile intercepted by Ukrainian army air defense batteries partially destroyed a building in the city’s northernmost district, Obolonsky, killing at least two people. Every day, muffled explosions are heard in the distance. Kyiv held its breath.