A year ago, the city of kyiv was surprised by the Russian offensive. Today, despite the war, life has resumed its course, almost normally, in the capital.
“There was no siren or missile on Friday. There were the official ceremonies with the Ukrainian president as well as the visit of the Polish Prime Minister, however, Kiev was much calmer than the previous days. The city was in slow motion. The Ukrainians had taken their precautions not to move. Here, the memories of the first day of the war are still very present”, tells us our journalist Loïc Parmentier.
Since the start of the war, Ukrainians have been preparing. The city was fortified in case the Russians tried to venture there again. The entrances to the capital are now protected by imposing trenches. In one of them, we meet Sergiy, the unit doctor. “It looks like the First World War. In France, in Belgium, there were these trenches everywhere. But now, for me, as a Ukrainian patriot, it has become normal. I defend my family, my country, my people “he confides.
Our only goal is war
A few meters from these trenches hidden in the woods, one can discover shelters occupied by Ukrainian soldiers. There is a storage space, a reserve of food and wood as well as a bedroom. “Here, everything takes place in 4-hour increments: 4 hours of rest, 4 hours on guard duty and 4 hours for cleaning/cooking chores. And then it starts all over again. My life, like for all the other soldiers, is 7 days a week. 7, 24 hours a day. There is no moment when this rhythm stops. Our only objective is war”, whispers one of the soldiers present.
Sergiy and his unit will return to the front shortly. They were workers, doctors, managers in a metal packaging factory. But their life ended on February 24. War has become their new daily life.