‘No organized supply of food or water’: Kyiv resident describes undergound bunker

As Russian forces move closer to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv residents sheltering in an underground metro station are alert and stressed, but are looking out for one another, according to Ukrainian journalist Natalie Grynvyak.

“They are on alert, they are anxious. Consistently on their phones, consistently charging their phones,” she said, speaking to The Times of Israel on Sunday from the underground shelter.

“They are all watching something related to the war. Sometimes when there is panic it gets real quiet. People are just in a frozen state because people are very scared, because of the things that are being said in the news and Kyiv being attacked and surrounded,” she said.

Grynvyak, founder of InFeatures Story Production, is in her second day in the metro station. She said her internet connection is spotty and that she is largely unable to send out her own reporting from the bunker.

“There are a lot of guns and shelling outside,” she said.

People are stressed, she said, and each reacts differently. “One person is trying to hide within himself. Others are trying to take action, to go to territorial defense units and try to defend the country. So different people have different ways.”

Sitting with my family in the bathroom. #ukraine #war #helpUkraine pic.twitter.com/ev1gojB5qF

— Natalie Gryvnyak (@nataliegryvnyak) February 25, 2022

Grynvyak has been unable thus far to head west to Lviv. She will remain in the bunker in the meantime.

“There are a lot of babies, a lot of elderly, a lot of couples, a lot of families,” she said. “A lot of foreigners. A real cut of society here.”

Because of a citywide curfew, no one is supposed to leave the station. But individuals have been running out to grab food and supplies from their homes, she said.

“There is no organized supply of food or water,” Grynvyak explained. “Nothing, there’s nothing. It’s only on a voluntary basis.”

“Just people living nearby and just common generosity.”

Grynvyak said Ukrainians are eager to learn from Israel’s experience of living through war: “I know in Israel you are consistently living in a state of possible intrusion or possible attack. Your reality has changed because you’ve been living under the possibility of war consistently.

“For many of the people here, this is the first acquaintance of this kind, and many don’t understand what to do, how to act,” she said.

“Maybe the best thing would be to hear a voice of support,” said Grynvyak, “and the advice of people that went through the same thing.”