AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Overnight, Russia launched another round of deadly ballistic missile strikes on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and surrounding areas. It’s the latest in a series of large-scale Russian attacks this summer. Ukrainian officials say the attacks are becoming even more dangerous because Ukraine is running low on air defense weapons that protect the capital. To get a sense of what life is like in Kyiv right now, we called up Dmytro Hainetdinov. He’s the deputy director of Ukraine’s World War II history museum, which is documenting the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Welcome.
DMYTRO HAINETDINOV: Hello.
CHANG: Hi. So, Dmytro, can you just take me back to last night? Where were you when the missiles first started hitting? And what did those first few moments feel like?
HAINETDINOV: Yeah. It was quite a typical situation. So our family was almost sleeping. It was, like, maybe half past 12, in the midnight, when we heard the notification on our smartphones that the air alert started. So typically, in such situation we check our, like, applications on the phone informing about different levels of threats. Like, is it a missile or threat of ballistic missile or threat of drone? And so on. And we saw in notifications that it’s a threat of ballistic attack from Bryansk region of Russia. So immediately, we went to the corridor. And during our movement – it was, like, two minutes after sirens started to be heard – we immediately heard a series of explosions.
CHANG: Yeah. Well, as terrifying as that sounds to me, I imagine that you have gotten pretty used to air raid sirens and sleepless nights like that. But I want to ask you because in this moment, Ukraine’s air defense systems are not as strong as they were earlier in this war. And your air force says that it did not intercept a single one of those missiles that were launched overnight. Can people in Kyiv sense that, that the air defense systems have weakened? I mean, what changes do you see on the ground when those air defenses are not there, are not as robust?
HAINETDINOV: Yeah, so I would say that, of course, people understand. And it’s also obvious that our government, starting with President Zelenskyy, they speak frankly that there are no antiballistic missiles now at the moment in possession of Ukraine. Yeah, we can say that people are more nervous than usual, of course, because of this situation. And ballistic attack is perceived like one of the highest levels of threat of danger for civilians, and it is so because it’s a very short time before siren and before explosions. So people don’t have opportunity to go to the shelter in that pause. And at the same time, the life continues. So people can demonstrate fantastic abilities to adapt to any situation. Unfortunately, this situation is tragic situation.
CHANG: What about for you personally, Dmytro, as you’ve been living through this war? Can you talk about how the day-to-day of it has reshaped just your habits, how you live, how you move through the world day to day?
HAINETDINOV: It’s an interesting question. I would say that probably it didn’t shape too much or changed my lifestyle. So I continue living, and I go to work. I work, and after work, I can go to some, I don’t know, cafe. And people continue to live their normal life. Of course, all we hope that we are lucky. And the next day, of course, is very hard because you’re exhausted after sleepless night.
CHANG: Yeah.
HAINETDINOV: But somehow, we can call it a new normality, unfortunately. But so life continues. It was very tough winter. Now we have challenged summer. But I hope that I, my colleagues, my beloved people and Ukraine in general as a nation will overcome this.
CHANG: Well, your museum, it’s dedicated to World War II, of course. But you are now personally living through this war. Tell me what you’re collecting now to document this war and what you hope people decades from now will understand about living through days like last night.
HAINETDINOV: Yeah. For example, after such big attacks, typically we send our mobile groups with photographer, with video operator, with some researchers to the places where something occurred. For example, last week, we sent our expedition to the city of Kryvyi Rih. It’s, like, hometown of President Zelenskyy. And there was a house where a missile hit it and it collapsed. Family of seven people died in this house. We not only took some pictures of the place and recorded testimonies of neighbors, but we also collected some materials and even possibly materials from that house that was destroyed. And of course, probably we will show them in the exhibition one day.
CHANG: Well, I hope that you, Dmytro, and your loved ones continue to stay safe.
HAINETDINOV: Thank you so much for your kind words.
CHANG: That is Dmytro Hainetdinov. He’s the deputy director of Ukraine’s World War II history museum. Thank you very much, Dmytro.
HAINETDINOV: Thank you very much for your attention. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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