It is Tuesday afternoon and there are reports about an explosion at the TV tower in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. Vladyslav Tynok lives in that very area but has since last week moved closer to the outskirts of the city. He is tired and will in a few hours go on nightshift in the house where he now stays. Without arms he will then be on the lookout for Russian saboteurs. Or troops.

”We have Molotov cocktails in case of an emergency” he told Tidningen Global.

By Bella Frank

UKRAINE | ”The Russian strategy now is to strike against all objects of infrastructure to demoralize people, and there is an ongoing hybrid information war where false news are spread of the Ukrainian government being about to capitulate. So now the government is informing, via channels on Telegram, that this is false news and there are no such intentions, that the government and president Vladymyr Zelensky will continue trying to resist the attacks of the Russian army” said Vladyslav Tynok during a second interview after Tidningen Global spoke to him last Friday. 

The plan had been to speak Monday night but continuous warning sirens in the capital put a stop to it. The basement is still the place to go for Vladyslav Tynok and his neighbors when the sirens sound.

During the weekend and up until Monday there was a curfew. Tuesday he went out to shop food and other necessities but the shelves in the shops are empty. He sends pictures of empty vegetable crates, empty bread shelves and long queues to shops and pharmacies. 

Empty shelves in Kyiv shops. Photo: Vladyslav Tynok

Guards the house

Moving around in the city was possible Tuesday but a large number of checkpoints have been erected where people show passports or ID-cards, many have digital passports or ID’s. As media have reported authorities have encouraged people to make Molotov cocktails. Vladyslav Tynok and his neighbors are heeding the call.

”We have Molotov cocktails in the back yard in case of emergency, if there is infiltration going on people in the house will protect it” he said.

He sounds tired, explaining that all the words in all the languages, Ukrainian, Russian, English and Swedish are swirling around and that he gets only a little sleep at night. At the street door there is usually a guard running security and camera surveillance but since the war started it is those living in the house that have taken up the task of security. In apps they share the shifts between themselves and Vladyslav Tynok usually takes the shift between 3 am and 6 am. 

”Two of us sit there checking the monitors in case there are Russian saboteurs about” he said. 

Molotov cocktails have been prepared. People are queuing outside a pharmacy in Kyiv, Tuesday the 1st of March 2022. Photo: Vladyslav Tynok

Relatives in Kharkiv without shelter

Otherwise it is the situation in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city with a population of around 1.5 million people located in the east of the country, that is on Vladyslav Tynok’s mind. During Monday there were pictures showing artillery attacks on what looked like a housing area and on Tuesday the Freedom Square was attacked, reportedly with a missile. At least six people were killed according to Associated Press.

Vladislav Tynok’s aunt and uncle live in central Kharkiv and he feels powerless about not being able to help them. They don’t even have a basement to seek shelter in.

”They have hidden in the bathroom two days in a row. And I don’t even know how to help them. The only thing I can do is to contact them and ask if they are ok and the only reply I get is ’we are in the bathroom’”

He is also worried about his parents who live close to the TV tower in Kyiv, as well as concerned about Russian troops striking different forms of infrastructure such as the city’s electricity grid. If electricity goes it may be time to leave Kyiv, and Vladyslav Tynok is also thinking of how to help his parents leave the country. 

”I am thinking of taking them to the Polish border or at lest further west in Ukraine”.

Appeals for support to Ukraine’s army

What do you feel about the situation right now?

”I feel uncertainty. At the start I felt I had a plan B, that it would be enough to simply move from central Kyiv to the outskirts of the city, that there would be some artillery attacks against the city but that there then would be negotiations immediately” he said, now fearing the war will be more prolonged, referring to conflicts like that in Transnistria and Abkhazia. 

”Now I think the war will go on for a month or two. Everyone feels unsafe and I don’t know what to do, and I am thinking of this and how to keep my parents safe. I will reevaluate the situation and make a decision” he  said and appealed to people to send money, not only for humanitarian aid but above all to the Ukrainian army. ”Show them your support as they are doing their utmost to support their homeland – we are extremely proud of them”, he said adding that he himself have earlier questioned the wisdom of spending money on the army when resources were scarce: ”But now I realize that I was wrong, it was correct otherwise Kyiv would no longer exist”.

Need to defend one’s home

The subject turns to the massive sanctions from the EU, that FIFA, IOC and companies like Visa and Mastercard have taken action, that countries like Sweden and Switzerland are breaking from their neutrality stance but also to what peace organisations are now emphasizing, that more arms to countries at war risks prolonging the war and ultimately lead to more victims. On asking what he thinks of such reasoning he refers to what Ukraine’s president, Vladymyr Zelensky has said, that they are in their home country and defending it from Russian aggression and invasion. 

”I was always a pacifist but in this situation I have to repeat that we are in our own country and that there are moments when the only thing you can do is to defend hour home”.