Resurrecting Kyiv’s Cold War bunkers
As fears rise of a Russian invasion, Ukraine’s capital is restoring long-disused underground protections
EVHEN HERASIMOV unlocks the bolts and latches on a metal door of a Sovietera building in a snow-covered courtyard in Kyiv and leads the way down a flight of stairs. At the bottom is a relic of a bygone time: a Cold War-era bunker capable of withstanding a nuclear strike.
For years the shelter was little more than a curiosity to show tourists, but amid the growing threat of war with Russia, it has been given a facelift and is once again ready for action.
Designed to house 350 people, the bunker’s mustard-coloured walls gleam with fresh paint. Ten bunk beds have been installed as well as an autonomous air-purification system that could sustain life for two weeks.
There are even new gas masks in wooden boxes in the corner – but Mr Herasimov, who manages nearly 400 emergency shelters in his neighbourhood, keeps them under seal.
“We’ve been working to refurbish emergency shelters: give them a fresh coat of paint, clean up, deal with mould because it’s probably the first time we’re facing an external threat – from Russia,” Mr Herasimov told The Sunday Telegraph, speaking about his country’s post-Soviet history.
The flurry of action comes as Moscow has massed more than 100,000 troops and heavy weaponry near Ukraine’s border and made veiled threats to invade. Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that Russia was “waging a disinformation campaign intended to destabilise and justify an invasion” of Ukraine. “Russia must halt its aggression, de-escalate and engage in meaningful talks,” she said.
Last month, the mayor of Kyiv issued a decree to inspect, catalogue and fix all Cold War-era bunkers and any underground premises that could serve as emergency shelters in case of a Russian invasion.
Kyiv now runs 500 fully equipped bomb shelters, along with more than 4,000 underground safety facilities, ranging from basements to parking lots that can protect people in the event of an air raid or any attack on the capital. There is enough room for more than 2.8million people, roughly the population of Kyiv, according to the City Hall.
Russia’s state TV has dubbed such preparations hysterics”, but they come amid the worst tensions between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War, with Ukraine in the middle as a key battleground.
Diplomats from Moscow earlier this week held three rounds of talks with officials from the US, Nato and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe aimed at de-escalating the situation. But they ended, according to Russia’s lead negotiator, in “sort of a dead end”.
On Friday, the US accused Moscow of positioning saboteurs to carry out a “false-flag” operation in the country’s east. The White House said the move would involve sabotaging Russia’s own forces and creating a pretext to invade, possibly within the next month.
The Kremlin last month published an unprecedented list of demands urging the US and Nato to pull out troops and weapons from its neighbours in eastern Europe and commit to barring former Soviet nations such as Ukraine from ever joining the alliance.
The top US negotiator described the requests as “non-starters” but president Vladimir Putin last month made it clear that Russia was not prepared to offer any concessions and that this was a take-it-or-leave-it deal.
President Putin and other officials have warned they would have to resort to “military and military technical measures” if diplomacy fails. When asked why Russia was in such a rush to seek what it describes as security guarantees, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said on Friday: “We have run out of patience. Let’s make it clear: the West has overstepped the mark and gone ahead with an escalation in violation of all agreements.”
Moscow is waiting for the US to table a written response to its demands next week and will then decide on a course of action, Mr Lavrov added.
It is not clear exactly what kind of military action Russia would be ready to take against Ukraine, but many fear a repeat of 2014, when Moscow invaded the Crimean peninsula and illegally annexed it. It also sparked a separatist conflict in the east that is still ongoing.
Mr Putin has denied any plan to send troops over the border, but the Ukrainian government is preparing for the worst-case scenario regardless.
Mr Herasimov looks after 380 emergency shelters in Kyiv’s residential dis
‘We’ve been refurbishing shelters. It’s probably the first time we’re facing an external threat – from Russia’
trict on the left bank of the Dnipro river, including the fall-out bunker underneath his office.
When authorities first thought of dusting off the shelters, they found many of them in a sorry state and in need of updating. “Careful, fresh paint!” shouts Mr Herasimov as he shows off a newly installed lavatory.
Mr Herasimov opens the sink tap to show clean, drinking water running from giant metal cisterns placed in the middle of the room.
Local authorities last month published an online map listing all bunkers and shelters that can be used in the event of war. A small white sign with an arrow and the number of the shelter is painted on the side of the building, but few passers-by pay any heed.
Local resident Volodymyr Shabanin had just returned to Kyiv after spending most of the year at his country cottage. He said he had no idea there was a bunker but added that he had already checked out a basement underneath his block of flats. “I have two shelters in my house – they’re easy to find and marked with arrows,” he said.
But for Mr Shabanin, if the Russians invade then hiding is the last thing he will be doing.
“I know what to do in case of a war. I’ve served in the army – I’m going to enlist to defend my country.”