Dmytro Bondarenko is prepared for the worst.
He has already filled the space under his folding bed and almost every other corner of his apartment east of kiev water and non-perishable food.
There are rolls of duct tape to seal windows against fallout. It has a gas stove for camping as well handy.
There’s also an AR-15 shotgun and shotgun for your protection, as well as ammo boxes. Next to the washing machine, there is Spare gas cylinders and lids in case you have to leave the city at full speed.
“Any preparation can increase my chances of survival,” he said, armed with a knife and first aid kit.
With the Russian invasion in its ninth month, many Ukrainians no longer wonder if their country will be bombed. They actively prepare for that previously unthinkable possibility.
During dinner and in bars, people often argue about which city would be the most likely target or what kind of weapon could be used. Many, like Bondarenko, stock up on provisions and make survival plans.
Nobody wants to believe it can happen, but the idea seems to be on the minds of many in Ukraine who have lived through the the worst nuclear accident in the world in Chernobyl in 1986.
“Obviously Ukraine takes this threat seriously, because we understand what kind of country we are dealing with,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with Associated Pressreferred to Russia.
The Kremlin has unfounded claims that Ukraine is preparing a “dirty bomb” in Russian-occupied areas, an explosive to spread radioactive material and spread fear.
Kyiv strongly denied this, saying such demonstrations are rather a sign that it is Moscow preparing such a bomb and blaming Ukraine.
memories of Chernobyl
Nuclear fears trigger painful memories in those who experienced the Chernobyl catastrophe, when one of the four reactors exploded and burned about 100 kilometers north of kyiv, releasing a radioactive cloud.
Soviet authorities initially kept the incident a secret and although the city near the plant had been evacuated, Kiev did not.
Svitlana Bozhko was a 26-year-old journalist from Kiev who was seven months pregnant at the time of the accident and believed the official statements that played down it.
But her husband, who had talked to a physicist, convinced her to flee with him to the southeastern region of Poltava. She herself became aware of the threat when she saw radiation detectors and officials rinsing the tires of cars departing from Kyiv.
Those fears troubled Bozhko for the rest of her pregnancy, and when her daughter was born, her first question was, “How many fingers does my daughter have?” That daughter, who was healthy, now has a one-year-old son and he left Kiev the month after the Russian invasion.
Bozhko, who still lives in Kiev at the age of 62, hoped he would never have to face such a thing again. But all those fears returned when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his forces on February 24.
“It was déjà vu,” he told the AP. “Once again, the feelings of tragedy and helplessness I was overwhelmed. “
The capital is once again preparing for the release of radioactivity with more than a thousand people trained to respond, said Roman Tkachuk, head of the capital’s municipal security department. He bought a lot of them potassium iodide pills and protection devices for distribution, he added.
Talk and black humor about nuclear weapons
With all the high-level statements from Moscow, Washington and Kyiv on atomic threats, Ukrainian speeches these days are littered with phrases like “strategic and tactical nuclear weapons”, “potassium iodide tablets”, “radiation masks”, “waterproof plastic” and “hermetically sealed food”.
Bondarenko said he started making nuclear survival plans when Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, was hit by Russian attacks.
The 33-year-old app designer believes he has enough supplies to get him through a couple of weeks and more than enough fuel to leave the country or go to the mountains if a nuclear disaster strikes.
It left the Donetsk region several years ago after it was threatened by pro-Moscow separatists. She was hoping to have a quiet life in Kiev but the COVID-19 pandemic forced to lead a more isolated life in his apartment and the war accelerated his survival plans.
Its provisions include 200 liters of waterpotassium iodide tablets to protect the thyroid from radiation, protective masks and disposable shoe covers to protect against contaminated soil.
Bondarenko said he cannot be sure he is safe from a Russian nuclear attack, but he believes it is better to be prepared because “they are crazy”.
Websites provide tips for surviving a dirty bomb, while on TikTok there are more posts from people than prepare a “nuclear bag” to escape quickly and offer advice on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack.
October saw “big leaps” in Ukrainian visits to NUKEMAP, a website that allows users to simulate an atomic bomb dropped at a certain location, according to its creator, Alex Wellerstein.
worry gave rise to black humor. More than 8,000 people joined a chat on Telegram’s messaging service following a tweeted joke that, in the event of a nuclear attack, survivors should go to Schekavytsia Hill in Kiev for an orgy.
On a more serious note, mental health experts say having a support network is essential resist in moments of uncertainty.
“This is what often happens in Ukraine and you also have to feel that you can deal with this problem. And there is a strong sense of belonging to a group,” said Dr. Koen Sevenants, head of mental health and psychosocial support. for Global Child Protection from UNICEF.
However, he said that prolonged periods of threat can lead to a sense of helplessness, hopelessness and depression. While it is possible to install some degree of standardization, this can it changes as threats increase.
Fatigue in the forefront
Those living close to the front line, such as Mykolaiv residents, say they are often too tired to think of new threats, having suffered almost continuous shelling. The city, located 500 kilometers south of kyiv, is the closest to Kherson, where the fighting takes place.
“Believe it or not, we must prepare” for the nuclear threat, the head of the regional administration, Vitalii Kim, told the AP. He reported that regional officials are working on various possible scenarios as well trace the evacuation routes.
More than half of the pre-war 500,000 inhabitants fled Mykolaiv. Many of those who remained, like 73-year-old Valentyna, say they are too tired to leave now.
The woman sleep in a windowless basement which she shares with ten other neighbors, in such humiliating conditions that she asks to be identified by name only. On the threat of a nuclear attack, you said: “Now I believe anything can happen.”
Another woman at the shelter, who wanted to be identified as Tamara for only the same reasons, said that as she tries to sleep at night in a bed made of stacked wooden beams, her mind turns to what awaits them.
“During World War I, they fought mainly with horses. During World War II, with tanks,” he said. “Nobody rules out the possibility that this time it will be with a nuclear weapon.”
“People progress and, with it, the weapons they use to fight,” Tamara added. “But man does not change, and history repeats itself“.
In kyiv, Bozhko feels the same fatigue. She has learned what to do in the event of a missile landing, holds a supply of medicines for various types of chemical attacks and has what she calls her “anxiety kit” – essential in the event of a sudden evacuation.
“I’m so tired of being afraid; I’m moving on with my life, “she says,” but if something happens, we’ll try to fight and survive.
And then he added that he understood the difference between 1986 and 2022.
“So, we were afraid of the power of atoms. This time, we were faced with a situation where a person wants to exterminate you by any means“said Bozhko,” and the second is much scarier. “
By Hanna Arhirova and Adam Schreck – The Associated Press
Translation: Elisa Carnelli
Source: Clarin
