Kyiv Post Team Shares Its Impressions From Under Shelling

The Kyiv Post’s office is located in a residential area in the center of Kyiv recently hit by kamikaze drones. Most staff members live in the capital as well. Today, on Oct. 31, and previously on Oct. 10 and Oct. 17, Kyiv Post team members were awakened by explosions and forced to hide in shelters because of a massive rocket attack by Russia. We asked our team members how it felt. 

Leah – Secretary

I woke not to an alarm clock but to an air alarm siren, and explosions. It was 7:00 a.m. when I heard five explosions in a row. I live in the Kyiv region near Vyshhorod, and the rocket blasts were very close. When there were ten blasts I just stopped counting them. The electricity went out, there was no water or mobile phone service: It was like the apocalypse, and I couldn’t even contact my colleagues. When I got to the nearest metro station for shelter, I was able to connect and contact my colleagues.

My neighbors who live near Vyshhorod wrote that the thermal power station close to a dam had been bombed,. I reasoned that living on the 10th floor and I wouldn’t be flooded at once. For some reason I didn’t feel fear, only anger.

Stefan – Military Journalist

I live on the top floor of a high-rise building on the south side of Kyiv so I had an excellent view of the city from our balcony. It was easy to see the strikes were in the north of the city, because the part of the city I could see, the center and the south, stayed perfectly normal. By the time the air raid sirens kicked off it was too late to go to our air raid shelter. We have a choice – either the neighborhood metro station or our building’s underground parking..

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Traffic was a little thinner and there were less pedestrians, but I saw people walking out of the metro while the air raid sirens were still wailing. In our building the lights stayed on, but after working for about an hour I realized water was off. We have a chat group in our apartment building and one neighbor posted a photograph of the local water well: 80 people were standing in line to fill up bottles.

Marichka – Journalist

I came from western Ukraine by train at 6:40 a.m. to Kyiv. I was traveling from the funeral of a friend, an Azov fighter. Our office is not far from the train station and I decided to walk.

Kyiv was empty. Walking past the bombed-out buildings in the center was a bit creepy. I saw an office building with completely smashed windows. Then the siren started. I was not afraid because I was used to the fact that the Russians are shelling us every Monday.

I write an events column for the Kyiv Post, so I was in a hurry to get to the office: Many events are happening in the city despite the war. I decided not to go to the shelter, and was working in the office when I heard the explosion. I didn’t feel fear, so I continued to work.

Andriy – Journalist

I got up very early, and was about to go to the office at 8:15 a.m., but heard the whistling of rockets and explosions – the air defense system was working. I was scared. At 8:05 am, the electricity went out, the whistles and explosions continued, and I saw messages that there was a Russian attack.

I didn’t go to a shelter and followed the rule of two walls – by being between two bearing walls you are more likely to survive. If the house exploded, there could be no way out of the basement. Then I saw that there were new missiles starts. After 10:00 a.m. the alarm stopped but then I saw that 80 percent of Kyiv has no water and half of the town no electricity.

I had no opportunity to work from home so when it was possible I went to the office. I still had water in the pipes. On my way to work, I saw a depressing sight of people waiting in line for water with bottles near supermarkets and water tanks.

Aleksandra – Journalist

I woke up from the sound of explosions and saw the message that there was another Russian massive rocket attack. I went to wake up my son.

We went down the stairs to the shelter: While going we were constantly looking through the glass windows, and we were constantly watching whether a rocket was flying into our house. There were few people in the shelter despite the fact that we have a twenty-story building.

I opened my laptop and worked on an interview. My son was watching cartoons on the phone. He was hungry, but I had forgotten to take something to eat, and after a while, the alarm ended.

Peter – editor

I heard blasts from afar – Vyshhorod, where they were striking in the Kyiv region, is quite close. I wasn’t scared, but was prepared for Monday morning missile/drone attacks on Kyiv. This is the fourth Monday in a row that Kyiv/Kyiv region has been targeted by massive Russian drone and or missile attacks.

I have loaded up several big containers of water and have made some provision for the loss of power.  I charged a small laptop – of course, this is for a temporary outage. No heating as yet, but it is bearable.

Maryna – editor

I got up early in the morning because I had work to be done. Suddenly I heard explosions: Well, I realized, Russians had once again launched their missiles, and once again on Monday. I suppose they love Mondays.

I heard a lot of explosions, it was the air defense system shooting down these missiles. I was a little scared and called my mother to ask if everything was okay.

Then at 8 a.m. the electricity went off, and my first thought was about how I was to work and how the working day would be. I decided to stay at home for two hours and I wrote news pieces from my phone. Eventually, my battery died so I left home and got to the office.

This, then, is an insight into the conditions in which our Kyiv Post team, along with the other inhabitants of Kyiv and many other cities and villages of Ukraine, is bearing up after 250 days or so of Russia’s relentless and barbaric war against Ukraine.

The spirit at Kyiv Post remains strong and the sense of responsibility higher than ever. We thank you, our readers, for your support and solidarity.