One night in an underground dormitory – report from the Kyiv metro

… Early in the morning, everyone wonders how many sleepy subway lines will work today, which stations will be open and which will be closed. Because they will return here to sleep at night…

The metro has now become one of Kiev’s safest shelters from bombings. From February 24 trustThe doors of this place are open to “passengers” at all hours of the day. From the first days of the war, the subway shelter has been operating in a special mode. Most of the city’s population spends the night here. Residents of the underground dormitory are divided into two groups. The first group is those who stay only at night, that is, those who are insured against the danger of bombs – they go home in the morning. The second group is already permanent residents – they have no place to go: either they live in a neighborhood that is under constant fire, or it has already collapsed.

People take their seats at the entrance to the subway with turnstiles, escalators, platforms, and even carriages. In the morning, they fold their blankets and take them away. About 8 in the subway trustbegins to serve most passengers in the traditional way. In the evening, the shelter is transformed again…

We, two journalists from Azerbaijan, KyivWe arrived after a long journey. The military was preparing to stand guard and the civilians were going to sleep. We were also offered a place in one of the carriages and given blankets. The inside of the car was dark. But I could clearly see people’s eyes on me. I felt that, they are worried. True, they did not know where we came from or who we were, and they considered us their own, but they were still worried.

These people are already a month old that, they do not spend the night in their homes. They go to their apartments only during the day to pick up clothes or other necessities. They say, “Have your own house, but you can’t sleep there comfortably!”

Everyone around was sleeping in thick clothes. We dressed in the same way and lay down on our beds. But even though I was very tired, I could not sleep. I got up and silently opened the closed door of the carriage with my hand. Usually, the driver shouts, “Leave the door open.”

It would be 2 o’clock at night. I got out of the car on the platform, I was terribly cold. I started to come and go. Not only in the carriages, but also in the parking lots and on the stairs. There were even people who spent the night on a dry floor or sitting under something. It was possible to meet people of all ages – from infants to the elderly. I saw a few sleepless people like myself – someone was wandering around, someone was looking at their phone, someone was sitting still and blinking. But no one spoke.

I got out of the car and started walking on the side with turnstiles. It was relatively warm here. Also, the man’s body became hot as he moved. But the place for walking was limited – it was impossible to disturb the sleeping people.

I spent the whole night walking, sometimes finding a place to lie down, trying to sleep. I finally sat down and I fell asleep.

In the morning we woke up to the driver’s signal. Some went home, some went to work. Most of them packed their blankets and put them on the platform. They would return in the evening.

Because the head of the world’s largest state wants to have more territory and to it according to In the 22nd year of the 21st century, it bombs the cities of the neighboring country, destroys people’s homes and forces them to spend the night underground.

(Since the photo is no longer allowed in the subway, the article used photos taken here some time ago)