In western Ukraine, the Russian attack is reflected in hoarding and concern for one’s own family and those living elsewhere in Ukraine.
Lviv In the basement of Oleksander, one realizes how Ukrainians alone are in the midst of a major Russian offensive.
Even at the beginning of the night, the basement was full of debris. In the morning, Ukraine woke up to Russia to start a war. Oleksandr began to clear the scrap away
– I didn’t know if they were going to bomb Lviv as well, Oleksandr says.
A spider web has been caught in her hair.
The basement is now being bombed against Russian airstrikes. Oleksander has a daughter and a wife, but he tries to send them abroad. He himself intends to stay in Ukraine.
– Why would I leave? I will not leave Ukraine, he says.
The only instruction from the authorities has been to prepare for the evacuation. Otherwise, the decisions have to be made yourself.
Oleksandr lives In Lviv, located in western Ukraine near the Polish border. That is, from the only main wind direction from which Russian troops are not currently coming or trying to occupy Ukraine.
In comparison, Lviv is still a safe part of Ukraine, which was reflected in the city’s main railway station during congestion. Highways and trains out of the capital Kiev immediately congested in the morning.
Some tend to countercurrently. Been to Lviv Dmytro tried to return to the eastern Ukrainian Dnipro, which was one of the targets of Russian attacks.
– I’m scared. My children and wife are in the Dnipro and I don’t know what’s going on there.
Those who did not escape, began to prepare. In Lviv, long queues formed in front of ATMs and pharmacies.
There was a queue of hundreds of meters to the gas stations.
Acting as a doctor at a local hospital Yuri queued for a couple of hours. He planned to take his mother to his family for safety and then return to the hospital.
– We are clearing the hospital of other patients and preparing to take the wounded, he says.
Yuri is going to take the gun to work.
– Putin the thugs don’t get through so easily, he says.
Ukrainians was instructed to donate blood for the wounded. Right from the morning, the blood donation point in Lviv was busy.
Natalya said he came as soon as he heard of the Russian attack.
– There will be a lot of wounded soldiers. We all need to help.