“Some Ukrainians arrived at the first bombing sirens, and decided to take refuge very deep in the subway”. While Kiev has been under attack by the Russian army since February 24, many civilians have settled in metro stations that have become bomb shelters. “About forty people live in the Dorohozhychi station, in the territory of Babi Yar”, says French photographer Raphaël Lafargue (Abaca Press), author of these images for Point.
This Tuesday, March 2, the day after the attack which targeted the television tower located a few tens of meters from the station and which caused the death of five people, “the atmosphere is calm, underground”, “civilians discuss, read, draw or caress the dogs and cats they have taken with them,” he says again. A few rare metros – still in service on the line – “break the monotony of these long days of waiting”.
More than a week after the offensive initiated by Vladimir Putin and while the Ukrainian army has placed a large number of tanks and trucks west and north of Kiev, the intensity of the fighting is increasing in the country’s capital. Two days after these images, Zaporijia, the largest atomic power plant in Europe, in central Ukraine, was hit by strikes from the Russian army.
CASEThe war in Ukraine