Kiev has ‘went into a bad dream’

Sirens and the air raid sirens sounded at first light, but the morning was ominously quiet. Many Ukrainians were simply on their way to work around eight or were drinking coffee at the local bakery. Some lined up at the embassies in the city that are still open. There are also long queues in front of ATMs. Almost all people are silent, staring at the latest news and messages from family on their phones.

After all the threats, misinformation, speculation and underestimation, the most extreme scenario suddenly became reality on Thursday night: it is war in Europe. Russia has invaded neighboring Ukraine with all its might. President Vladimir Putin announced in a televised address around 6 a.m. local time a “military special operation” in eastern Ukraine to protect Russian-speaking civilians there from – fictitious – Ukrainian aggression.

The government of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had called for peace in two languages ​​around midnight, spoke of “a full invasion of Ukraine† Not just in the Donbas, where Russia previously recognized the independence of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk; capital Kiev, Odessa, Mariupol, Kharkov and Kramatorsk have also been attacked. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said eight people were killed and nine injured.

Missile attacks

Zelensky’s speech at night dispelled all doubts that an invasion was imminent and gave the whole country a restless night. In Kiev, the silence was broken around 5 a.m. by dull explosions, probably from an attack on military targets and the national airport. The clouds over the airport glowed pink and green, according to eyewitnesses.

Russia said it had “suppressed” Ukraine’s air defenses with targeted missile strikes. It is unclear whether this is intended to take out Ukraine’s defenses and infrastructure, or a harbinger of total occupation or destruction of the heart of the country.

Also read: Young men in Kiev: Putin will not rage over us again†

Much of the city, which has prided itself throughout the crisis not to panic, fled Monday morning.

In the center of Kiev, Vladoslav Rogosa and five friends are loading two cars with suitcases, plastic bags and enough bottles of water for the drive west. The twenty-something feels that he has ended up “in a bad dream” in which his country has been “assaulted”. He doesn’t know where he’s going. “To western Ukraine, if it’s safe there. To Europe, if it works.”