Ukrainian women study crisis preparedness and self-defense capacity in Kiev

When the Ukrainian Women’s Guard announced an invitation to a survival and self-defense course, 700 women had applied. But the room at Kiev City Hall, where training was scheduled to take place on Saturday, could only hold up to 300 people, so more dates were added.

The women studied everything from how to pack an emergency bag, where to get necessary groceries and how to stop the bleeding.

At one point, one of the instructors, Oleksandr Biletskiy, started talking about survival in a town that was cut off from basic services, telling participants that now was the time to make plans with their neighbors.

“Decide how to divide the tasks. Who will cook, who will take care of the elderly, who will be with the children,” said Biletskiy, a military expert.

He addressed the importance of maintaining good hygiene in camp conditions: deciding where the toilet will be, keeping rubbish in bags, and, at worst, being prepared to quickly bury the dead. At one point, he said that in a crisis situation, burying people vertically can save space and time.

Natalia Skryabina, a 36-year-old animation artist, went to the training because she wanted to be prepared for a crisis situation, be it a natural disaster or a war.

“We cannot predict what happens on the other side. Here in Kiev, we still feel that we are a long way from that, but people in the east speak differently because they have been through it, they know that anything can happen,” she said.

“Eight years ago, nobody expected something like this to happen,” she said, referring to the war in the east and Russia’s decision to annex Crimea.

Skryabina said that after a friend told her about the course, she read notes made by people who had already attended the preparation.

“But this taught me more about crisis thinking. How to be prepared and how to stay calm,” she said, adding that she was utilizing the training to make sure she was prepared for any eventuality. “I’m going to buy a fire extinguisher now,” she said.

During hands-on self-defense training, two women practiced using their hands to avoid a potential aggressor.

“Never make a fist. It doesn’t work, it will break your fingers, use your palms,” Victor Kraevskiy, one of the instructors, told the women gathered in the ornate hall.

Yulia Kesaieva contributed to this story