People in Kyiv describe how, in a barrage of missiles, Russia shattered the hope of life returning to normal

A fire after Russian missiles hit central Kyiv on October 10, 2022.REUTERS/Gleb GaranichCars burn after Russian military strike, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in central Kyiv, Ukraine October 10, 2022.

Russia hit Ukraine’s capital with missiles on Monday morning for the first time in months, immediately bringing home a war that had felt increasingly distant.

At least five people died in Kyiv when a series of blasts rocked the city, and thousands more retreated into bomb shelters.

It was a grim wartime scene hich had started to recede after Ukraine pushed Russia’s army back from Kyiv in the early weeks of the war.

Even as brutal fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, in Kyiv people once more went to bars, restaurants and beaches in a relatively peaceful summer.

There were raves again and diplomats and world leaders made a show of physically coming to Kyiv, embracing a sense of security that was badly shaken on Monday.

Cars burn after Russian a military strike in central Kyiv on October 10, 2022REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Polina Tereshchenko, 25, told Insider she only moved to Kyiv a month ago from the northeastern city of Kharkiv, hoping to leave behind the “daily shelling” there.

She said life in Kyiv was closer to normal. It meant working, after not being able to for seven months.

“A month ago I went to the cinema for the first time since February 24,” she said referring to the date Russia began its full-scale invasion. “I cried.”

Monday’s missiles hit when she was at home, getting ready for work. At first she was unfazed after the fighting in Kharkiv, but she decided to shelter as bombing continued.

She said after calling her family she “finally went to an underground parking with my cat and laptop. By that time it was crowded with my neighbours, their children and pets.”

A photo Polina Tereshchenko said she took of smoke from the strikes as she went to the shelter.Polina Tereshchenko

She said she tried to stay calm, panicking when she briefly lost her phone signal while hearing explosions underground.

“They didn’t stop during several hours. You try to control your emotions, but still you feel nervous.”

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She said she had “tears in my eyes” looking at children there. “They don’t deserve to spend their childhood in the shelter because of shelling all over the country.”

Left central Kyiv

Two women spoke to Insider on condition of anonymity, asking not to be named for fear of eventual retaliation by Russia.

The first told Insider she was in her office in central Kyiv on Monday when the missiles struck.

The woman uses a wheelchair, which means she can’t access bomb shelters, she said. So instead she went home.

She said people in Kyiv got “normal life” for a few months, which ended with the shock of Monday’s attack.

She said she, like many Ukrainians, lost interest in things like shopping or the cinema, but she met with friends in the park or worked to make herself feel better.

But when the bombs hit she went back to her home in Bucha — the Kyiv satellite town where hundreds of civilian bodies and evidence of torture and war crimes were found when Russia left.

She said she will now limit how often she goes to the city, fearing repeat attacks.

The second woman said she was woken up by explosions, and fled with family to her sister’s home further from the center.

“While I was running, I turned my head back and saw a rocket flying above me.”

She said she left Kyiv earlier in the war, but came back in April when it seemed safer. Now, she is unsure when she will return to her own home.

She said the attacks show the West needs give Ukraine more weapons, “so that we can defend ourselves and fewer people die,” echoing a common request from Ukrainian government officials.

Trying to live regular lives

Tereshchenko said moving to Kyiv meant se could “try to pretend I have a normal life,” despite the reminders of war and worry for her family in Kharkiv.

The strikes, she said, were a brutal reminder that “You feel you can’t be safe in any city until the war is over.”

She said the war had also motivated her and others to enjoy life as fully as they can between attacks.

“Before this war I didn’t understand people who were going to restaurants and drinking champagne during World War II. Now I get it.

“People just want to enjoy every second they have, especially when they are not sure about tomorrow.”

Liubov Tsybulska, the founder of Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security, told Insider she was woken up by the strikes, and waited them out in her apartment building corridor.

She said she saw this morning that people are trying to go back to their new normal: “Everybody’s doing what they can, people are going to work. Once they got this opportunity, they went to coffee shops to buy coffee.”

She said she took this picture minutes after sirens stopped:

A photo that Liubov Tsybulska said she took of people in a Kyiv on cafe just minutes after air raid sirens stopped on Monday.Liubov Tsybulska

She said people in Kyiv had become “much more resilient” than when the war started, and life had changed.

“Everybody is reading what to do in case of nuclear attack … people are much more resilient, we know that there is no way back. We cannot lose this war.”

Read the original article on Business Insider