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Eerie silence in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
The troops commanded by Putin are advancing on the city of over a million inhabitants, and the authorities triggered several air raid alarms last night.
Residents should seek safety in bunkers.
Christoph Reuter, DER SPIEGEL
»Kiev feels like an abandoned city.
More than a million of its three million inhabitants are said to have already left the capital of Ukraine.
Women and children in particular are fleeing west, trying to make their way across the border to Poland and Hungary.
The men between 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country.
Many have joined the homeland security organizations in the suburbs, standing at the barricades and roadblocks."
... and also build them yourself. As in this courtyard, one of the largest construction companies in the city.
Dmytro Bilotserkovets, Councilor Kiev
»Because of the war, the workers are doing something different now.
You're helping our city make anti-tank hedgehogs."
The motivation of the workers seems limitless.
They are driven by the will to defend their country at all costs.
Zakhar Povydysh, Foreman
»On the first day, when Russia treacherously attacked Ukraine, when they started to cross our borders, when the nearby cities burst into flames, the blood in all of us started to boil.
We knew that as builders we didn't know how to fight, but that we could be useful.
// And when we run out of metal, we'll make Molotov cocktails."
Serhiy Serdyuk, welder
»We will break the backbone of the Russian army.
We've already cracked it and we're going to break it."
Dmytro Bilotserkovets, Councilor Kiev
»You have to understand: we are like an ant colony.
Everyone knows what to do.
That's why Putin can't win, we will win.«
But not all residents of the metropolis are likely to be so sure of victory.
Christoph Reuter, DER SPIEGEL
»
Everyone is afraid that tomorrow, in a few days, maybe in a week, the Russian army will close its ring around the city and begin a siege of which no one knows how long it will last .«
Pictures released by the Russian Defense Ministry are said to show how the army units are advancing on the capital.
Satellite images also document the advance of Russian troops - even if this is probably progressing much more slowly than Putin had planned.
Russian troops are trying from all sides to gradually close the ring around Kyiv.
Taking the capital is considered Putin's most important strategic goal.
Christoph Reuter, DER SPIEGEL
»It feels like a cruel experiment with a city of millions that is suddenly faced with the question: what should I do?
should i flee
Should I stay at home?
Hoping it will pass?
should i fight
Maybe die for the defense of my city, my country?
What I would never have dared to imagine a week ago.
These are the questions that Kievans, but all Ukrainians, are facing these days.«