Kiev is far from the front, but the fear of war is felt

[Nota de la redacción: Este artículo fue elaborado antes del inicio de la invasión de Rusia a Ucrania, pero dado su interés periodístico en este contexto lo compartimos con nuestros lectores.]

The inhabitants of the Ukrainian capital observe from afar and without altering their routine the possibility of a devastating conflict with Russia. But some rituals of the war rearguard not seen in years, returned overnight.

Since Tuesday, every hour on the hour, powerful loudspeakers play the national anthem “Ukraine is not dead” in the great Maidan square.

But with a limited echo, since nobody stops to look at a giant screen where the slightly pixelated blue and yellow Ukrainian flag is projected.

“The Russian people do not need the death of their children and we do not need ours”, affirmed Zoya Rozuman, 59, who has other plans for the coming weeks and thinks about fixing her garden for the spring that is announced.

“Everything will be fine”, says the woman dressed in a cleaning uniform, smiling.

800 kilometers from the eastern front, the recognition by Moscow on Monday of the separatist regions, did generate in the streets of the capital a more concrete fear that there is an imminent escalation

“We are afraid of war, yes, but we are willing to face it because it is a defensive war.”, summarized Anatoli Tarasenko, 74 years old.

This retiree criticizes that the government “I haven’t lifted a finger” to prevent, after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 2014, that the two regions of the pro-Russian separatists escape from the fold.

At a time when the next steps are uncertain and various scenarios are on the table, from a status quo to an invasion, the Ukrainian government has already declared “at war”.

“Wartime”

Before the coffin of one of the first Ukrainian soldiers killed in the Donbas region since the conflict was reactivated, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov relies on symbols.

“Our soldier did not die in times of peace, he died in times of war, he died defending his country against the abominations against which we will resist.”, he stated before the press, relatives and surrounded by men who carried a flower in their hands and a rifle on their shoulders.

Few in Kiev believe in all-out war or the possibility of a Russian invasion, but everyone is haunted by the idea, one way or another.

Ksenia Balfy, a 38-year-old DJ, isn’t planning on having her Friday night show cancelled. For her, Putin’s threats are not “a novelty”.

“It is normal to be afraid, nobody knows what is going to happen now, but we are staying here and we are going to defend our country,” added the woman who declared her determination to remain in the city.

But in the event of a Russian attack, other residents of the Ukrainian capital are already beginning to think of retreating to a location in the countryside further west of the country.

Both students and employees of some companies have received several emails in recent weeks with directives and instructions to prepare: what to stock up on or where to seek refuge in the event of an air attack.

Beat Putin

Oleg Koras, 38, joined the “territorial defense” as a reservist, but despite training twice a week, he admits he feels powerless.

“If the bombs fall on our city, what do they want us to do, we are going to seek shelter. But later, we will know how to respond, ”replied the man, who sells bracelets with the colors of the national flag on the street and who wants his army to “defeat” Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A few streets away, in front of an exchange house, a man immortalizes with his phone the direct collapse of the Russian ruble in prices, which marked a minimum due to the crisis.

But beyond the harangues against Putin, this war that is taking shape between two countries with very intertwined cultural, family and linguistic ties, for many Ukrainians it is not a conflict between two peoples.

Volodimir Jorovy, a 39-year-old researcher, identifies himself as a “Russian from Ukraine” and has a significant part of his family across the border, between Moscow and Voronej, but says his home is Ukraine.

“They may be mine, but if they come with their tanks or any weapons, I’m sure I’m not going to be happy to see them,” he concluded.