Stores sold out of siege essentials

US-born John Marone has lived and worked in Ukraine since 1998, when he got a job with the BBC covering Ukrainian, Belarusian and Moldovan politics. He has since worked as a journalist for a variety of publications. He has a Ukrainian wife and two children. Since his wife refused to leave their flat he has forged ties with the local Territorial Defence team.

AS Russian forces move to surround the Ukrainian capital, fears of a long siege with limited food for the population of three million are becoming a reality.

“We don’t know what to expect from day to day. Everything that you see on these shelves is the only thing you can rely on,” says a man working in the meat section of a supermarket chain.

The store has aisles stripped of rice, pasta and buckwheat, while others are filled with snack foods, juices and household cleaning products – items not essential for a siege.

Bread was first to disappear but some stores have been baking their own.

Delivery

The beer and spirits section is well stocked as alcohol sales have been banned city-wide. Uncertainty reigns supreme. The cashier says: “Tomorrow we are supposed to work but who knows?”

There are still onions and garlic but the potatoes have gone, while tomatoes and bell peppers rot.

There are sausages and cheese but they’ve been on the shelves since Russia began its invasion a week ago.

However, there is none of Monday’s queueing, when the end of a two-day lockdown sent citizens out for provisions.

Many of these people promptly left the city for the countryside.

Ukraine is an agricultural nation with food arriving in the capital from all directions. But as battles rage, roads are either too dangerous or dominated by military convoys. Fuel for combat takes priority and truck breakdowns are all too common.

“We are waiting for a delivery of milk products to arrive today. But we just don’t know is the short answer,” says a woman who works at a store.

The elderly in particular know about the forced famine of the early 1930s and have rural plots and keep pickled vegetables.

And as if to assure against a repeat, the government has promised to hand out “care packages” of bread, cookies, tea and cheese to the most needy.

Pharmacies in Kyiv are also still operating after private health services shut up shop.

However, for the pensioners queuing for up to an hour each day, paying for medicine might get more complicated.

The President’s Office is now urging Ukrainians to use plastic.

“Pay with cards everywhere. Don’t withdraw cash. First of all, it’s dangerous for you and dangerous for the services that collect cash from stores and ATMs,” an official said.