Kyiv — The war in Ukraine has shown how difficult it is to live anything like a normal life when fighting is going on around you. More than 4 million people have fled from the country since Russia invaded five weeks ago, but 90% of the country’s population has stayed, and they’re trying to do their work and support their families despite the onslaught.
CBS News correspondent Debora Patta met some of the people who have found a way to continue functioning amid the chaos in Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv.
Thousands of people have fled the worst of the war to the relative safety of Kyiv and surrounding towns. In Brovary, on the eastern outskirts of the capital, Katya found shelter in a kindergarten with her four children after her home burnt down. Now she shares a classroom with more than 25 other people.
Katya, right, is seen with her daughter, left, at a kindergarten in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary, where she and her four children have taken shelter after their home burnt down amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They share the classroom with more than 25 other people. CBS News
She told Patta she still doesn’t feel safe — worried that the Russians will come.
Nowhere is completely safe in Kyiv, where air raid sirens and distant shelling have become the soundtrack of daily life. The once-vibrant heart of the city has largely emptied out. Now it’s a heavily fortified military zone.
Before the war, Victor was an electrician. He hadn’t picked up a gun in 12 years, since he served his mandatory conscription. But CBS News found him among the tens of thousands of civilians who have taken up arms to guard Kyiv against the Russian invaders.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Victor was an electrician. CBS News found him among the tens of thousands of civilians who have taken up arms to guard Kyiv. CBS News
“At the beginning, I was very astounded about what’s happening,” he told Patta. “Then I realized that it is not a joke. It is actually a patriotic war.”
Astoundingly, grocery stores are still open in Kyiv, and when there is no physical comfort to be found, there’s always the spiritual.
The prayers for peace inside the iconic St. Michael’s Cathedral have never been more urgent.
Armed men patrol the streets of downtown Kyiv, near St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery and Cathedral, February 26, 2022, just days after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty
In underground bar-turned-bunker, young volunteers relax and tell war stories while outside, others mix cocktails — of the Molotov kind. Instead of partying the night away, they help provide food and shelter for exhausted fighters.
Max Paliienko still walks to work every morning to open up his basement flower shop in the capital. Instead of picking up a gun, he’s holding out a hand of friendship, selling flowers, and hope.
“It’s my job to bring a smile and happiness,” he told Patta. “I’m staying in Kyiv.”
Max Paliienko works in his basement flower shop in the Ukrianian capital of Kyiv.
Katya and her kids, sheltering in the kindergarten on the edge of Kyiv, know they’re here to stay, too. They’re scared, but they have nowhere else to go. Like the 6 million others thought to be seeking shelter inside Ukraine after fleeing from their homes, their lives have been turned upside down by Russia’s war.
This article was first published in CBS News . All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
