An outpost in front of Chemelnytskyi, about 300 kilometers west of Kyiv as the crow flies. BILD is allowed to film a makeshift position in which citizens prepare partisan-style for the fight against the high-tech, overpowering Russian army.
They are simple people who have organized themselves to fight here. They pile up sandbags, prepare Molotov cocktails, cut down trees – so that the gunners have a clear view when the Russian tanks roll in.
Valentina (60) commands three battalions and also organizes vigilante groups in three communities. She took part in the 2013/14 protests on Kiev’s Maidan. Valentina knows how to use the Molotov cocktails effectively. Still, isn’t she afraid to fight the Russians with these 2-euro weapons? She says, “I’m not afraid to die.”
You can see the BILD reporter’s encounter with the Ukrainians, who are arming themselves at this post against Putin’s troops, in this video:
A fighter has set up his position behind thick stones and sandbags. The barrel of his simple hunting rifle sticks out of the loophole. Next to it are drawings by first graders from the area. In many elementary schools across the country these days, children have drawn brightly colored pictures for the men and women on the front lines as a reminder of who they are making their sacrifices for.
The fighters are warming up behind a curtain. A campfire is burning, on a small table there is a microwave oven, a kettle, cups and instant coffee.
“And where do you sleep?” asks the BILD reporter. A Ukrainian says: “Our people here don’t sleep.”