Kyiv: Series of explosions heard some distance from city limits
A drive through central Kyiv leaves no room for doubt. This is a city preparing for a major Russian attack.
Rows of concrete panels arranged in maze-like formations. Anti-tank road blocks. Piles of sandbags. Improvised barriers built of random pieces of metal, wood, old tires or anything that was at hand.
And everywhere you look, there are blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.
The city is uncannily quiet. Many people have fled in recent days. Those who have stayed are hunkered down in bomb shelters, basements and subway stations.
The checkpoints dotted along the city’s entry points are manned by ordinary Ukrainians. These are not soldiers. A week ago, many of these men would have been at work, or enjoying time off with their friends and families.
Now, they are ready to defend their country’s capital.
Oleksiy Goncharenko was guarding one of the checkpoints in Kyiv on Tuesday, armed with the rifle he picked up last week after answering the call from Ukrainian authorities to prepare to defend the country.
It was bitterly cold, and Goncharenko was working in shifts, with other volunteers. When not at the checkpoint, he says he is at the base, helping wherever he can: “Humanitarian help, helping people to get [to places], organizing transport, sharing information.”
Goncharenko is not — and has never been — a military man. He is a member of Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament.
“I’m not a professional soldier at all, but I can try and I can do my best and I will do it if Russian forces enter Kyiv,” he told CNN.
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