Commander Igor scans the skies as the siren of another air strike sounds in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. The Russians have systematically targeted Ukraine’s airfields and air defense assets. Igor’s unit is tasked with defending the main axis of Kyiv from the east.
Young soldiers use earth movers and diggers to dig trenches and build fortifications. Citizens, including women, run to help, fetch food, water and even put up barricades and roadblocks, checking for suspicious activity or subversive elements. “Russian special forces and Chechen fighters are coming to assassinate President (Volodymyr) Zelensky, we have to stop the enemy at the gate,” he tells India Today.
Several levels of security exist to protect Kyiv. The army, with tanks and armored personnel carriers, is supported by troops with anti-tank guided missiles and surface-to-air missiles. The second line of defense are the local militias with assault rifles.
“We are waiting for Carl Gustaf systems, Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) and Stinger missiles. We have the will, we need weapons,” says Misha Michael, the militia commander. Misha is an IT professional but has traveled to Kyiv Quit his job to protect.” What’s the point of a job when you don’t have a country? We cannot let Russia occupy Ukraine,” he says.
There is no lack of will, but the lack of weapons, including ATGMs and SAMs, will affect the fighting in Ukraine.
There is no lack of will, but a severe shortage of weapons, including ATGMs and SAMs, will affect Ukraine’s fight against Russia. “I’m ready to join the fight. It’s a fight for freedom,” says Oksana, a mother of two in Kyiv. Oksana is also preparing her children, including a pre-teen daughter, for the fight ahead. For.
It’s barely 10 days since Kyiv saw its first air raid (24 February) and the capital already looks like a ghost town. A long week of air raid sirens and missile strikes has resulted in a mass exodus of people from Ukraine’s once bustling capital.
The situation is even more dire in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, which is barely 30 km from the Russian border. Heavy shelling has turned areas of the city into rubble. “Kharkiv was a harsh blow to the Russian army. They would have thought that they would receive a grand welcome upon arrival in Kharkiv. But there was fierce opposition and they were repeatedly pushed back,” says a popular blogger, Oleksandr Turkin.
“The attacks on Kharkiv are punitive. The city is being bombed to demoralize Ukrainians.”
– Tatyana Oleg, school teacher, Kharkiv
Kharkiv city centre, with blue and yellow recruitment tents, was flattened by Russian artillery and missile attacks. “The attacks on Kharkiv are punitive. The city is being bombed to break the morale of Ukraine so that we do not protest when the Russians attack Kyiv,” says Tatanya Oleg, a school teacher in Kharkiv.
In Kyiv, a contingent of the Georgian army is conducting a training camp for civilians. Residents, including teachers, gym instructors and bus drivers, are practicing with wooden rifles on their shoulders. They are being taught basic military tactics to assist the Ukrainian military.
Among the trainees is Sai, a young Indian student from Tamil Nadu, studying aerospace engineering in Ukraine. “I have been studying in Ukraine for the past 3 years. I have close friends here. This is my second home and it is under attack. When my Ukrainian classmates are fighting for their homes, how can I leave them ? So I decided to join them,” says Sai.
Sai fears he may be expelled from his college, but says he has made up his mind to stand up to his friends. And he’s not alone. There are many foreign fighters, including mercenaries from Europe and the US, some of whom are veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq operations. “I have operated in Afghanistan and have rich experience as a combat medic. I hope it will be helpful to the Ukrainian army,” says William, who is training with the Georgian army. Says militia commanders That they expected mercenaries from Poland, America, Georgia, Australia and France to join the fight against Russia.
“The Ukraine army of 2022 is not the same as the one that fought in the Donbass region in 2014. They have undergone extensive training with NATO forces over the past eight years. The training, tactics and weapons are all NATO standard,” says Kuldeep Kumar, an Indian businessman here , who is married to a Ukrainian citizen, says he will not leave despite fears of a protracted siege of Kyiv. “My wife is Ukrainian. My children are Ukrainian. They ask if India was under attack, would I leave the country? Ukraine is his homeland. How can we go?” he asks as the family shows us a stash of weapons, including assault rifles.
But not everyone wants to stop and fight. On the train from Mariopol to Kyiv, we meet Dasha, a young musician who was fleeing the intense shelling of Donetsk. “There is no use. This shelling, firing and war is not going to end soon. I am a musician and music is not heard in the noise of gunfire and shelling. I want to start afresh in Poland,” she says Huh.
Trains are full of people fleeing the war zone. Ukrainian men aged between 20 and 50 are not allowed to leave the country. He is ordered to join the fight to defend the country. But given the vastly superior Russian armies, the task is easier said than done. n