On the morning of the sixth day of war, Ukraine is still the subject of massive bombardments, which last night affected the outskirts of Kiev as well as Kharkiv, the country’s second metropolis, where on Monday, a Russian bombardment with cluster weapons munitions on residential areas resulted in 11 civilian casualties among the population. North of Kiev, in the Obolon district, Territorial Defense volunteers prepare for battle.
With our correspondent in Kiev, Stephane Siohan
Obolon, a residential suburb of Kiev, is the first district of the capital which was affected by fighting on Friday. A little further north, in Boutcha and Irpin, fierce tank battles took place, during which the Russians suffered significant material and human losses. At the edge of this commercial district, popular with the population, men with yellow armbands, a sign of belonging to the Territorial Defense, dig trenches and install heavy machine guns, to face the next incursions.
In the district of Obolon, the Territorial Defense digs trenches and erects fortifications to protect the city by several lines of defense (3) pic.twitter.com/aTnlMdQD5n
— Stephane Siohan (@stefsiohan) February 28, 2022
Their commander is Andrei Bakhtov, 56, a former police lieutenant colonel: If the enemy manages to force our line of defense, there will be another line behind, and so on. We’re here to inflict maximum damage on them and not let them pass. I want us to preserve Ukraine, with our traditions, our laws and European values. We don’t want to see the Russian aggressor here, we don’t want to see history repeat itself. And the majority of Ukrainians are rising up in order to avoid a new Russian occupation of our lands. »
Almost too many volunteers
Within 48 hours, more than 100,000 Ukrainians volunteered to take up arms alongside the army. There are so many that recruiting centers cannot absorb the number. If the army were to crumble under the battering of the Russian advance, then these volunteers would wage guerrilla warfare on the streets of the city they know so well.
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