Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN)Just two weeks ago, residents of the Ukrainian capital went about their business, taught schoolchildren or parked at their desks.
The Russian invasion changed all that. Civilians, who literally fought for their lives and became volunteer soldiers, helped build defenses with military precision – and they are now occupying them.
Ditches run deep in the forests surrounding the highway leading south to Kyiv. Reinforced fallback positions are ready for whatever comes next. Huge metal anti-tank obstacles, locally called “the hedgehogs” because of their spiky shape, are set up at regular intervals along the road. And at every exit there are temporary blockades made of sandbags and huge concrete blocks.
The people of Kyiv are determined to defend their city.
As Russian forces approach, the resolve of its residents is palpable – many appear in good spirits.
Some display a victory sign when vehicles drive by. The blue and yellow national flag can be seen everywhere.
At a checkpoint on the way to Kyiv, volunteer defenders distributed flowers to women in their cars on Tuesday to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Many volunteers don’t seem to be dressed warmly enough for the freezing weather. They wear civilian clothes, with large coats and sweatpants, an unofficial uniform. Their pants are usually green, black, or camouflage—not the military kind—but the civilian pattern for hunting.
Some, but not all, volunteers are armed with automatic rifles and large knives.
Oleksiy Goncharenko, a volunteer manning one of the defense positions in Kyiv, told CNN he works four-hour shifts at the checkpoint.
His face is red from the cold. “It’s okay. Just cold,” he says, adding that “the locals give us soup and stuff like that.”
According to the chief of staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, nearly 40,000 volunteers joined the Territorial Defense Forces in the first two days of the invasion. In Kyiv alone, 18,000 took up arms when the authorities asked volunteers and reservists to do so.
Those who couldn’t join the armed forces (so many people signed up that the Territorial Defense Forces had to start turning people away) help in other ways.
They make Molotov cocktails, sew camouflage nets for barricades, distribute food, hot drinks and cigarettes to the guards. They raise money for the military, build more roadblocks, and even paint over traffic signs to confuse the invading forces.
“You will not be alone”
Kateryna Yurko, whose shop was destroyed nearby by a Russian missile last week, spends her time driving back and forth between Kyiv and the Polish border, delivering humanitarian aid to young children and the elderly. She also made Molotov cocktails for the troops, she says.
Oleksii Erinchak, who runs a bookstore and cafe in central Kyiv, has turned the space into a volunteer center.
“We are trying to prepare for the worst case scenario where we would be surrounded by Russian troops and all supply networks destroyed. So we’re trying to make sure everyone and every building is prepared for this,” he told CNN.
Another project the volunteers are working on is trying to encourage people to get to know their neighbors – something not so common in a big city.
“If everything is blocked – no internet connection, no phone calls – you will be with your neighbors (and) they can help you, you will not be alone,” Erinchak said. Most of his work now focuses on building neighborhood networks for food and medicine distribution.
But Erinchak also still sells books, “…because something normal should happen in this situation, too,” he said. However, the coffees are free.
The defenses are stronger closer to the city center.
But here it’s the professionals who man the checkpoints. Tanks and gun launchers are positioned along the city’s main thoroughfares.
Kiev’s famous Maidan Square in the heart of the capital is now a fortress. A large Ukrainian flag flies high above the site of the 2014 protests.
The capital’s parks now serve as bases for military vehicles; Shopping streets lined with boutiques, hip cafes, and chic restaurants are now bordered by sandbag and concrete block barriers.
And electronic signs that normally display traffic information and commercials are now calling for “NATO to closed the sky” and proclaiming “Glory to Ukraine.”
One of these signs is aimed directly at Russian troops. “Russian soldiers, stop. How can you look your children in the eyes. Go home and be human,” it says.
Eight men – two police officers and six National Guardsmen – are occupying a checkpoint near the Kiev police headquarters and stopping any vehicle that comes through.
National Guard reservist Oleksandr, who asked CNN to use only his first name for his safety, said he spends six hours at the post and then rests for six hours.
That usually means four hours of sleep and two hours for anything else that needs to be done: shower, shave, change or a quick note to family. Standing in the snow for six hours is a long time, he says, it’s cold.
A small shop around the corner remains open although all other shops in the area are closed. Liudmyla, who runs the shop, provides coffee and cigarettes to the soldiers protecting the street in front of her shop.
There aren’t many other customers these days, says Liudmyla, who has asked CNN to be addressed by her first name only for security reasons.
Most people stay at home and don’t venture downtown. Instead, they remain huddled in basements and subway stations. Liudmyla says she is determined to keep an open mind and has enlisted her husband Dmytro for support. “I am working. He protects me,” she says.
She says that “there are no words, emotions or reactions that can describe how I feel.”
“We don’t know what day of the week it is, but we know for sure that today is the thirteenth day of the war,” she says, adding that she believes in a “Ukrainian victory.”
Instead of saying goodbye, Liudmyla ends our conversation with what many here think: “Putin is ad***!”
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