The rhythm of the detonations slowed down.
The pulse of Kiev too.
The capital of Ukraine, 3 million inhabitants, lives since Thursday waiting for an attack by Russian tanks.
Fear threw thousands of families onto the roads and onto the station platforms.
Those who stay first struggle with fatigue.
Too many nights in the shelters.
Too many sirens.
Too many queues in front of pharmacies, grocery stores, banks, before the curfew, decreed from Saturday evening to Monday morning, completely stifles civilian life.
Kiev is on a war footing.
Volunteers armed with guns patrol street corners and entrances to buildings.
The military dug trenches, where once city officials tended flowerbeds.
There are sandbags in front of the official buildings, a tank under a bridge, damage too.
The bombardments and the first fights with groups of infiltrated "saboteurs" destroyed cars, buildings and lives, particularly in the northern suburbs.
According to the town hall, 9 civilians including a child have died in Kiev since the start of the invasion.
Sunday evening, the tanks had not entered the city.
Kiev held its breath, the whole world with it, while the Russian president agreed to negotiate… brandishing the explicit threat of nuclear weapons.
An agonizing wait captured by the lens of our reporter.
1. Members of the armed forces take up position inside a building located a few hundred meters from the seat of the presidency.
LP/Philippe de Poulpiquet
2. Two tanks have taken up position for the night on an avenue leading to the center of the Ukrainian capital.
LP/Philippe de Poulpiquet
3. A Russian missile gutted an apartment building on Saturday morning.
An initial assessment reported several injuries.
Some residents had spent the night in a nearby school shelter.
LP/Philippe de Poulpiquet
4. Two Ukrainian soldiers man a checkpoint set up in a street leading to the Mariinsky Palace, the official residence of Volodymyr Zelensky, the head of state.
LP/Philippe de Poulpiquet
5. Company manager Alex was sleeping with his wife and three children in a shelter when his apartment was destroyed by a Russian missile around 8am on Saturday morning.
LP/Philippe de Poulpiquet
6. Bob, territorial defense commander in Obolon, a neighborhood north of the city.
Here, territorial defense volunteers have taken up arms and are organizing to defend the area.
Earlier on Saturday, in front of this place, a Russian tank trying to return to the city center deliberately ran over a civilian car and ran over the driver.
LP/Philippe de Poulpiquet
7. A crate of rockets near a trench in northern Kiev.
LP/Philippe de Poulpiquet
