A week after the war, this is how the people of Kyiv spend their days under bombardment

Kiev

- The life of Ukrainians, who remained in their cities, quickly acquired a war-day routine, beginning with the early morning hours of the end of the curfew, and continuing - practically - until the next morning.

The beginning of the day begins by standing in long queues in front of the shops, although most of them are devoid of basic materials, such as bread, flour or sugar, given that the internal shipments have completely stopped.

Entering the shops is like sowing ashes in the eyes, as the Ukrainians can only secure and buy luxury items that may meet the needs of children and not the needs of adults, such as some of the sweets that remain in the shops, in addition to the remaining fruits and detergents.

The situation is similar in front of and inside pharmacies that also suffer from closure or lack of supplies, and although the relevant authorities announce from time to time the opening of pharmacies in certain places, but they are often out of reach for everyone.

Queues in front of shops have become the norm (Al-Jazeera)

Criminalization of monopoly

Due to their rarity and paucity, the prices of bread in the first days of the war jumped exponentially. This also prompted the authorities to double the criminalization of those who monopolize sales and raise prices based on private estimates;

The crime here even reached the point of equating the activity of the "Russian saboteurs", who infiltrated the cities, or the work of thieves and bandits, both of which are punishable by "corporal liquidation".

However, the scarcity and high prices have become an inevitable reality in the gas stations, most of which have closed, or are now operating according to the available fuel that is not suitable for all types of cars, and the residents have to search for their needs with difficulty, and wait long in queues as well, to find sufficient or partial quantities. Of gasoline, diesel or gas.

Multiple initiatives

On the other hand, initiatives among the population emerged in the Ukrainian streets, according to which the "People's Committees" distribute the available materials to the population, free of charge.

The priority here is for the elderly and children, as it is enough for you to approach the members of these committees, and show them a picture of your children, to give you some of what they have of materials donated by merchants, such as bread, potatoes, beets, eggs, bananas, etc., in addition to free filling of fresh water for drinking, because water is in homes Unfit for that for many years by virtue of its underground networks.

On another level, all telecom companies in Ukraine have launched an initiative whereby Ukrainians can talk and use the Internet without interruption, even if the credit or the “package” expires.

Scenes of destruction in Kyiv as a result of Russian bombing (French)

multitasking popular committees

The People's Committees consist of individuals in the same neighborhood, and they cooperate, in coordination with the "Regional Defense" forces of the Ministry of Defense, to organize life in the neighborhoods, and conduct patrols to ensure security and order in them.

The committees are erasing everything that indicates the nature and location of the neighborhood, such as columns, plates, and numbers, to mislead the Russian forces, especially after Google announced that its maps had been disabled in Ukraine.

The committees also conduct patrols looking for "radioactive signs" drawn by "Russian agents" near vital and populated sites to be targeted by bombing later.

These committees ask "strangers" in the neighborhood to prove their identity, and communicate with the "regional defense" when there is any doubt to intervene and clarify the matter, with the equipment they have, including machine guns and light weapons.

Shops have become empty of basic needs (Al-Jazeera)

Smoothie Bandera

One of the tasks of the "People's Committees" is also Molotov cocktails, which took an ironic name in Ukraine today, where it is called the "Smozy Bandera Cocktail".

The name is attributed to the personality of Stepan Bandera, because he is considered (locally and on a large scale) a symbol of the struggle against the Soviet Union in the middle of the last century, and because his name ignites the anger of the Russians, who consider him a "symbol of the Nazis" in Ukraine.

In each neighborhood, the people prepare these shells, and with them they are preparing to receive the vehicles and personnel of the Russian forces advancing into the depths of the cities, as well as most of the barriers on the main roads of the cities targeted by the invasion.

Underground life

Fleeing from the bombings to an underground shelter has become a major part of life for Ukrainians, who take refuge in shelters, deep metro stations and basements of apartment buildings.

This may be repeated repeatedly during the hours of the day, whenever sirens sound and residents receive warnings through government applications, and the stay in them may last - sometimes - many hours, up to night and day, or vice versa.

Ukrainian families in the basement of a hospital in Kyiv (European)

The difficulty of this situation is not only due to a new lifestyle in which there is no comfort, but also to the fact that many shelters and basements were not equipped for this purpose before, so there is no electricity, no water, no heating, no places to sit or lie down, or even bathrooms to relieve themselves.

People would sit and lie on the blankets they had available to protect them from the cold, or on cardboard that were collected, or available in the shelters and basements themselves, because most of them were empty warehouses, filled with stones or sand.

Parents try to relieve the little ones, by giving them warmth, and rewarding them with the available sweets and sweets, or what remains in the mind of stories, tales, songs and other entertainment.

Here, remarkable scenes of cooperation and "fraternity" emerge after the "acquaintance" between the neighbors. The people themselves say that the war - despite its famine - contributed to its manifestation, and to the strengthening of unity between the population, the people, the state and defense and security institutions in general.