"More and more explosions can be heard in Kyiv, and a rocket fell not long ago a mile off of my apartment," Mihajlo Tomić, a Serbian who has been living in the Ukraine capital for 18 years, speaks for Kurir.
"I think the detonations are the loudest some 10 to 15 kilometres from the city centre. I'm on the balcony now, watching the Russians probably getting close to the Kyiv city bypass, because there are some buildings burning there. Free movement outside of the city is nearly impossible, so I'm only saying what I can see and what I think. Here, if you don't have a press pass, you practically cannot move or film, or rather, you aren't allowed to. It'd be very dangerous, someone might think I'm a spy," Tomić said.
Spies
When Kurir asked him if there were spies in the city, and that we had seen many videos on social media, he said:
"It's hard to say. There are bound to be saboteur groups in the city, but it'd hard to tell what's real and whether there are spies and if bombs are planted. I think it seems a little exaggerated, because people often panic and believe in various information being circulated around the city."
Tomić added that he had heard of the aerial leaflets that the Russian Army had been dropping over Kyiv, warning the citizens not to shoot at the army and asking them to lay down their weapons. He also said that he knew a great deal of weapons had been distributed, and that many civilians were now in the Territorial Defence and that they were located at the barricades in the city.
"Things are OK for the time being. We have electricity, water, heating, and the internet. Everything is organized well. People chat online, join forums, help each other, and act as one. I'm afraid it'll be horrific if power or water is cut. Stores open in the morning as usual, but there's less and less goods in them, especially in the city centre. Supplying central area stores works a little less well, but there are areas in the city where the stores are a bit better stocked, which a few of my friends who live in other parts of Kyiv have confirmed," Tomić said, adding that what is missing in the city are cigarettes.
Negotiations
Round three for the weekend?
Ukraine is counting on round three of the negotiations with Russia this weekend, Mykhailo Podoliyak, principal advisor to the President of Ukraine and one of the Ukraine negotiators, said yesterday.
"Round three can be held tomorrow or the day after, we are in constant touch," he said at the press conference in Lviv, a city in the west of Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who spoke yesterday to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said that Putin assured him that negotiations would continue this weekend."
Information
According to Tomić, there is less and less gasoline, some service stations aren't open, e.g. the ones near where he lives, but he has heard say that there are others in the city that are still open, although he couldn't confirm it.
When we asked him where he gets his information, Mihajlo said that he relies on the Ukrainian news, watches all the portals from the former Yugoslavia, and follows Russian ones to an extent, to get more objective information.
"Those of us who live in Kyiv had hopes that there would be negotiations, and that the whole situation would calm down. But, unfortunately, after two failed conversations, there have been no results. The good thing is that it's been agreed to open humanitarian corridors if we decide to leave the city. We often hear the detonations. There is usually less of them before the negotiations, and they become more frequent afterwards. It's the same now. You can hear them in the distance," Tomić said.
"The Ukrainians are very determined to defend themselves. My assessment is that Putin has united all the Ukrainians around the resolve to defend themselves. I think it's for this reason that they'll be able to fight for a long time. What the military and tactical plans down the road are, I really do not know."
Andrej Mlakar
Bonus video:
