Just two weeks ago, residents of Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, were tending their shops, teaching schoolchildren or parked at their office desks.
The Russian invasion changed all that. Literally fighting for their lives, civilians turned into volunteer soldiers helped build defenses with military precision.
The trenches go deeper into the forest that surrounds the road that takes Kiev to the south of the country. Fortified retreat positions are ready for whatever comes next. Huge metal anti-tank barriers, known here as “hedgehogs” because of their pointed shape, are placed at regular intervals along the route. And makeshift roadblocks made from sandbags and huge cinder blocks are at every exit.
The people of Kiev are determined to defend their city. As Russian forces close in, the determination of its residents draws attention. Some flash a victory sign as vehicles pass. The blue and yellow national flag can be seen everywhere.
At a checkpoint on the way to Kiev on Tuesday, volunteer advocates were delivering flowers to women in their cars to mark International Women’s Day.
Many volunteers don’t seem to be warm enough for the cold weather. They wear civilian clothes, with large coats and sweatpants, an unofficial uniform. His pants are mostly green, black or camouflage motifs – not the military type – but the civilian pattern made for hunting.
Some, but not all, volunteers are armed with automatic rifles and large knives.
Oleksiy Goncharenko, a volunteer who occupies one of the defense positions in Kiev, told CNN who works four-hour shifts at the checkpoint.
His face is red from the cold. “Everything is fine. Just cold,” he says, adding that “the villagers are giving us soup and stuff.”
Nearly 40,000 volunteers joined the Territorial Defense Forces in the first two days after the invasion began, according to the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In Kiev alone, 18,000 people took up arms when authorities asked for volunteers and reservists to do so.
Those who were unable to join the forces (the number of people who signed up was so high that the Territorial Defense Forces had to start turning some down) are helping in other ways.
They are making Molotov cocktails, sewing camouflage nets for barricades, distributing food, hot drinks and cigarettes to the fighters. They are also raising money for the military, building more roadblocks and even painting road signs in an attempt to confuse the invading forces.
See images from the war in Ukraine
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
