HS in Ukraine Civilians queuing for assault rifles in Kiev: “It would be easy to leave, but then you would no longer have a home,” says the CEO of the IT company who arrived on the scene.

Kiev

Long the queue meandered to the door of a police station in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday. Dozens of men and a woman talked quietly and waited patiently for entry. Everyone had their own assault rifle in store.

It is a matter of mobilizing regional defense forces and there were both poor and rich.

“Ladies and the children have been taken out of Kiev and the men have returned so that we can be of benefit ”, the queue Dmitry Studzhinski40, said.

Dressed in neat and more expensive-looking clothes, Studžinski is not only the CEO of the IT company but also the captain of the reserve.

“We expect to have weapons to defend ourselves against the Russian invasion,” he continued.

A wife stood next to Studzhinski Oleana Studžinska35, with the same intentions.

“I want to be useful too. I don’t want to leave the country, ”Oleana Studžinska said.

Dmitri confirmed that the couple has no plans to become refugees.

“It would be easy to turn around and leave, but then you wouldn’t have a home anymore.”

The office there was constant movement in front as vans full of men came and went. Information was exchanged with the driver: a Russian intelligence armor was reportedly seen somewhere.

Many of the queuers had already wrapped a yellow ribbon around their arms. In published pictures of captured Russian soldiers, these have had red ribbons on their arms.

The men of the regional defense forces can be seen all over Kiev. The groups look well-equipped but move in civilian cars, private SUVs and vans.

Dmitry Studzhinski said he heads the operations of an American IT company in Ukraine. He didn’t worry about what his employer might have to say that he was going to go to war.

“They don’t know about this.”

“We’re working for a brighter future, that’s why we’re here.”

In all According to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, more than 25,000 assault rifles and ten million rounds of ammunition, grenades and singo ammunition have already been distributed to the regional defense forces in Kiev. The news agency Unian and Nexta, among others, report the matter.

In addition, even very young civilians have learned to make Molotov cocktails according to the instructions of the Ministry of Defense.

“Weapons and equipment are distributed in the mobilization of regional defense forces. At first, the activity was quite improvised, but it is becoming more and more efficient, ”says the former Colonel of the Border Guard. Antti Hartikainenwhich has led the European Union civilian crisis management operation EUAM Ukraine in Ukraine.

Of Hartikainen’s 350 subordinates, all foreigners and some Ukrainians were evacuated from the attack to, for example, Poland and Moldova, from where HS reached Hartikainen by telephone.

“On our route, these volunteer civilians with assault rifles were less visible because that route has not been the direction of the Russian invasion,” he says.

HS, on the other hand, saw civilians farther east, for example, building sandbags and guarding roadblocks with assault rifles on Friday as we moved from the Dnipro to Kiev.

What about what is the significance of the arming of civilians for the invading Russian forces?

“It’s part of the whole. Kiev’s defense will be strengthened all the time as they get more reservists lined up. They have also managed to defend themselves clearly better than what was expected. No one here yet knows how Kiev is going, ”Hartikainen reflects.

In international news, it first seemed that Russian soldiers were immediately about everywhere, but from Kiev it didn’t look like it at all. Even on Saturdays, large areas of downtown were quite quiet.

“The Russians have had these bridgeheads at a couple of airports on the outskirts of Kiev, but controlling such a big city with an air bridge is pretty challenging to do when Ukraine’s air defense is at least as it works.”

According to Hartikainen, the Russians relied on being able to quickly occupy key sites in Kiev.

“This did not happen and they are forced to breathe when there is not enough maintenance and the equipment is destroyed. And if the figure of even more than three thousand Russian soldiers who die is even close to being true, then Ukraine has defended itself very effectively. ”

Russian from the point of view, more troops should be brought to Kiev both via the air bridge and along the country from the Belarusian border. From the south and east, troops are moving more slowly

But in the end, the Russians might get a block of blocks in front of them, including Kiev civilians armed with assault rifles and Molotov cocktails. Dmitri Studžinski and Oleana Studžinska, who were interviewed by HS on Saturday, may well be facing one of the blocks.

“Yes, that kind of curbs the urban war,” Hartikainen estimates.

“When you drive into the city in an assault tank, you can’t secure every hole in it. And Molotov’s cocktail can make a bad impression. In addition, at least initially, attempts should have been made to avoid civilian casualties. ”

Many however, the people of Kiev feared on Saturday that Vladimir Putin the next to direct the killing machinery he ordered specifically to civilian targets.

“It gets a little confusing if the distinction between civilians and soldiers disappears in a combat situation. However, if civilians are to be protected, the protection of civilians may weaken due to the confusion of roles, ”Hartikainen reflects.

However, these civilians do not want to remain passive when the fate of the homeland is decided.

“Fortunately, there are now positive decisions that several EU countries will supply arms and ammunition to Ukraine. If there was a breathing phase here on Saturday, additional armaments can help when the next brawl begins, ”Hartikainen estimates.