Irina Nemirovich, 33, worked as usual at her company’s office in central Kiev. Before, she had already showered and had breakfast at her house, dressed in light clothes and boarded public transport. She was anxious because, at the end of the day, she would meet her friends at a nearby apartment. But she had to stop work to hide in a shelter for the fourth time in the same day.
The siren blaring in the Ukrainian capital warns of the risk of Russian missiles, but Irina is no longer surprised, according to her report to Sheet. After all, the scene is part of the routine of those who live in Kiev six months after Moscow troops invaded the country on orders from Vladimir Putin.
“Citizens of Kiev pretend to have a normal life, but there are several obstacles that don’t give us a chance to go back to living the way we used to,” says Irina, executive director of a health think tank. She had to move to her parents’ house in the village of Muzitchi, 35 kilometers from the city centre. That’s because her apartment in Kiev is just meters from a military university – a potential target for the Russians.
Irina has one more reason to be concerned: she is seven months pregnant with a boy. She has not decided whether to remain in the capital after the birth of her first child, for which she has not yet chosen a name. “This pregnancy is not what I dreamed of, but being pregnant makes me calm and hopeful. Even so, I am very afraid of what my life will be like when the baby is born.”
Kiev’s children begin returning to classrooms in September after spending the past six months in a remote education model. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 23% of schools across the country will receive students in person. The others are divided between those who will adopt a hybrid system or will continue with online classes. But only institutions with bomb shelters received government authorization to take in their students again.
The war also radically changed the plans of recent graduates in the capital. Project engineer Serhii Hron, 25, had several goals for the next few years, but now he only thinks about how to help his family, who live in Chernihiv, a Ukrainian city close to Russian bases in Belarus.
On February 24, when Russia began the invasion, Hron was in Lviv, in the west of the country. “I immediately went to the Army and asked for weapons and equipment to fight,” he says. As he has no military experience, the engineer was sent home. In Kiev, he avoids going to bars, restaurants and nightclubs, as he did before everything changed. Now, he says he can only think about war and uses his spare time to read the news, make donations to Ukrainian forces and study English.
After six months of conflict with no end date, there are still those who feel more comfortable enjoying the summer in Kiev. According to local media, it is increasingly common to find crowded beaches and cultural spaces. The capital, by the way, hosted the first match of the current Ukrainian football season on Tuesday (23) – with army protection and without fans.
Kiev is also known for its electronic music parties, but the beat hasn’t taken the war away from the everyday. Events don’t usually go past 10pm, because all the city’s lights go out at 11pm and, at that time, all residents of the capital need to be home.
“Restaurants are working almost normally, but dinners start earlier. The kitchen used to close at 10 pm, but now it closes at 8 pm to give employees time to clean the place and leave”, says investment director Celso Filho, 33 , a Brazilian who has lived in Kiev for two years.
Like much of the local population, he is no longer afraid when the siren sounds and is not used to taking shelter in places considered safe by the government. “There are sirens every day, but people are already ignoring it. I don’t do anything myself. There’s a bunker next to my house, but I’m not going.”
The scenario of absence of fear, however, could change this Wednesday (24), when, in addition to marking six months of war, Ukraine celebrates 31 years of independence from Soviet rule. Over the weekend, President Volodymyr Zelensky again warned of the risk of “brutal attacks” on the capital, and local authorities banned large public events, rallies and parades related to the anniversary.
For the Brazilian, this Wednesday promises to be more tense: “It’s the main holiday in the country. On that day, I’ll pay more attention to the sirens.”
Be that as it may, the residents of Kiev know that as long as there is war, de facto normalcy in the city will not exist. “We don’t love fighting; we just want our territory back and live peacefully,” says Hron.
