A doctoral social worker has defended Ukraine in the forests of Irpin. Alongside him are fighting teachers and businessmen, as well as tens of thousands of women.
25.4. 11:24 • Updated April 25. 11:28
KIOVA Unicolor, or monochrome clothing style, is fashionable in Kiev. It laughs Alinaafor she now wears only one pattern: the army green.
Alina only appears in his first name in this case, as he is a soldier in the Ukrainian forces. His training began at the same time he enlisted on March 5th.
On a rainy Friday, Alina stands in front of an unoccupied checkpoint in downtown Kiev. Those who still have soldiers should not be photographed. It is rumored that the news images have revealed the locations of the roadblocks to the Russians.
The locks have been lifted after Russian troops withdrew from the capital. The war is now centered south and east.
Alina has only been a soldier for seven weeks. Still, he would be ready to move to eastern Ukraine, where Russia is attacking fiercely.
– If we are ordered to leave, we will leave, Alina says.
Alina answers questions like a soldier, but sometimes she sounds like herself: a city dweller who has just turned 35, lived with her girlfriend, went to the gym and met her friends.
He helped others with his work. Alina was a social worker in an NGO that supports sex workers and people with a drug problem.
– Basically, I still do the same job, that is, I help others, Alina says.
Now the recipient is the entire people of Ukraine, and the Russian army is facing it.
It’s scary, but the work has to be done, Alina says.
From the bomb shelter to the woods in the middle of the fire
Fear began on February 24 when Russia invaded Ukraine. In the morning in Kiev began to hear explosions. The sirens will sound next. Alina was already awake because her partner had been alerted to work.
During the day, the exit roads to Kiev began to fill up, and people sheltered in the station tunnels of the capital’s three-line metro. Alina was there too.
– In the first days I was in shock and couldn’t eat or sleep. I was worried about my loved ones.
As the horror of the beginning subsided, a different feeling emerged.
– Something had to be done. Ukrainians had to be protected.
Alina decided that would be his job as well. When he enlisted in the regional defense forces on the second Saturday of the war, he did not even realize he was joining the army.
The regional defense forces are made up of volunteer civilians, but since the beginning of the year they have been part of the Ukrainian army.
Alina had no previous combat experience but she knew how to handle a gun. At first, he stood at checkpoints in fear. At the same time, he felt strong.
– We inspected the cars and waited for the Russian attack on Kiev. I realized the task was important and someone had to be there.
Ukrainian media (you switch to another service) according to as many as one hundred thousand people have enlisted in the regional defense forces since the attack began. Alina says there are teachers, business people and a lot of other middle-class professionals defending Kiev. There are about one in ten women, she estimates.
According to official data, a total of more than 50,000 women serve in the entire Ukrainian army.
Alina’s duties have included assisting humanitarian escorts and evacuations. He also says he was involved when Ukrainian forces fetched a man suspected of being a Russian spy from a nearby village in Kiev.
Alina says she experienced the worst moments of the war in the Irpin forest. Russian cannons fired and there were mines around. The hours hidden in the pit were long.
Alina says that in the most frightening moments, she pondered ways to marry her partner.
– My girlfriend has refused many times already.
The answer hasn’t been rude, as it still laughs. And Alina is not going to give up. Not in courtship or war.
Alina: We are still needed in Kiev
In late April, Kiev has been calm. Air alarm sirens sound almost every night, but even families can be seen in the playgrounds. In the evenings, young people walk downtown with their friends. The soldier also has time for a coffee break.
Alina still lives in the barracks and rarely goes home. After going to the army, staying there, he explains.
Alina’s mother is still in Kiev, but they haven’t met in two months. The mother thinks the daughter is busy working for the organization because Alina has not told the truth. The rest of the family knows about it.
– It was a big blow to me that my spouse and friends reacted negatively to my decision to leave the troops. They are scared and hurt. It hurts me too because I cause them pain, Alina says.
He hardly thinks about the future. We must first win the war. The situation in Kiev may change in an instant, although Russia’s attack is now focused on the south and east.
– We talk all the time that we’re in the wrong place. We stand here as an empty pledge. But at the same time, we know the Russians can return, Alina says.