War in Ukraine: “Close the airspace – You will be the next”

In her apartment with the windows broken in KyivAla Rakhulina cries as she sees the ruins of a life just destroyed by the new Russian bombings in the Ukrainian capital.

A powerful explosion on Tuesday morning broke the windows and threw this 64-year-old tax collector on the wall.

Her mother, blind and disabled, is in hospital, another victim of the Russian bombing, which some believe is a harbinger of an attack in Kyiv.

“The explosion was huge,” Rachulina said, weeping, her voice still trembling, her neighbors trying to calm her down.

“People were sleeping and pieces of glass were flying in all directions. “I was literally thrown against the wall: it’s a real miracle that no one was killed,” he said.

Russian forces trying to encircle Kyivhave intensified in recent days their bombing in the capital, which so far has avoided the fate of Mariupol and Kharkiv, which are under siege and heavy bombardment.

Nevertheless, Kyiv is preparing for a siege. Half of the more than three million inhabitants have already left the city.

In the morning, the capital was bombed four times by Russian forces, bombing buildings and a subway station. Report so far: four dead. Result: Traffic ban from Tuesday afternoon for 35 hours.

“I can not leave the country”

A huge crater formed near the apartment building where Alla lives in the Pontil region of northeastern Kiev.

Inside this ten-story building, a typical Soviet-era building, life seems to have stopped. Some apartments are completely burned, others are filled with pieces of glass and debris of all kinds.

The residents have already taken with them what they could, while some are so shocked that not a word comes out of their mouths.

The apartment next to that of Alla was destroyed by the flames and the water[whichwentuptotheanklesaftertheinterventionofthefirefighterstoputoutthefire[πουανέβηκεμέχριτουςαστραγάλουςμετάτηνεπέμβασητωνπυροσβεστώνγιατηνκατάσβεσητηςφωτιάς

The owners are there, sitting by a window that is no longer a window, holding a cigarette in his hand and staring into space. A small black dog walks in the water.

“I woke up, I had a bad feeling. I wanted to get up, but my breath pushed me out of bed. “I fell and amputated my leg,” said a man who did not want to be identified.

Kyiv has become a ghost town in recent days, its deserted roads have only visible checkpoints. Despite the fear of a Russian attack, some have no choice but to stay.

“I can not leave the country, because my eldest son is 20 years old and is serving in the army,” explains Olena Yadkuk, 40, director of the clinic.

“So, I live here with my husband and my two younger children,” she adds, wiping fragments of glass that fill the ground next to a playground.

“You are the next”

At a time when Russian pressure on Kyiv is growing and the number of war victims is increasing, many residents of the Ukrainian capital do not understand why the West is not intervening militarily.

They echo them repeated desperate calls by President Volodymyr Zelensky to NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspacea demand that is firmly rejected by Washington and Europeans who fear they will be drawn into war with Russia.

“Thank God we are still alive. “Look around you,” exclaimed Natalia, 60, an employee at a nearby metro station who was cleaning her balcony.

Fragments of glass fall from the floors on it. She shows the damage to her apartment with gestures of helpless rage, while tears flow down her cheeks.

“Give us planes, close the airspace! “Kyiv will be leveled and where will Vladimir Putin continue after?” …. “He will not stop, he is crazy. “You will be the next!” He shouted.