... Early in the morning, everyone is in a sleepy state and wondering how many subway lines will work today, which stations will be open and which will be closed. Because they will return here to sleep at night …

The metro has now become one of Kiev's safest shelters from bombs. From February 24, the doors of this place are open to "passengers" at all hours of the day. From the first days of the war, the underground shelter has been operating in a special mode. Most of the city's population spends the night here. Residents of this dormitory are divided into two groups. The first group includes those who stay only at night, that is, those who want to be insured against the danger of bombs - they go home in the morning. The second group consists of permanent residents - they have no place to go: they live in a neighborhood that either is under constant fire, or is already ruined.

People make seats for themselves at the entrance to the underground near turnstiles, escalators, platforms, and even carriages. In the morning, they fold their blankets and take them away, and those who have nowhere to go gather their barracks aside. The metro starts serving passengers in the traditional way from about 8 p.m. In the evening, it again becomes a shelter …

We, two journalists from Azerbaijan, arrived in Kiev after a long journey. The military was preparing to stand guard and the civilians were going to sleep. We were also offered a place in one of the carriages and given blankets. The inside of the car was dark. But I could clearly see people's eyes on me. I felt that they were worried. True, they did not know where we came from or who we were, and they considered us their own, but they were still worried.

These people have not spent the night at home for a month. They go to their apartments only during the day to pick up clothes or other necessities. That`s when people say, "When you have your own house, and you can't sleep peacefully in it!"

Everyone around was sleeping in thick clothes. We dressed in the same way and lay down on our beds. But even though I was very tired, I could not sleep. I got up and silently opened the closed door of the carriage. Usually, in such situations, the driver shouts, "People from such and such a car, let go of the doors."

It was 2 o'clock at night. I got out of the car on the platform, I was terribly cold. I started walking back and forth. People were laying not only in the carriages, but also on the platform and the stairs. There were even those who spent the night on a dry floor or putting something random under themselves. It was possible to meet people of all ages - from infants to the elderly. I saw several sleepless people like myself - someone was walking thoughtfully, someone was looking at the phone, someone was sitting still and blinking. But no one was talking.

I got out of the car and started walking on the side with turnstiles. It was relatively warm there. Also, the body heats up as it moves. But the place for walking was limited - it was impossible to disturb the sleeping people.

I spent the whole night walking, sometimes finding a place to lie down, trying to sleep. Finally, I sat down and fell asleep.

In the morning we woke up to the sound of the driver's signal. Some went home, some went to work. Most of them folded their blankets and put them on the platform. They would return in the evening.

Because the head of the world's largest state wants to own more territory, and therefore in the 21st century, in 2022, he will bomb the cities of the neighboring country, destroy people's homes, forcing them to spend the night underground.

(Since taking photographs is no longer allowed in the subway, the photos used in this article were taken some time ago)

Translator: Gulnara Rahimova

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