Bomb shelters, guerrilla war: Building Ukraine's resistance

(1 Feb 2022) The situation in Kharkiv, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the tens of thousands of Russian troops amassed at the border of Ukraine, feels perilous, according to its residents. Ukraine's second-largest city is one of its industrial centers and includes two factories that restore old Soviet-era tanks and build new models. It's also a city of fractures: between those who enthusiastically volunteer to resist a Russian offensive and those who just want to live their lives in peace. If Russia invades, some of Kharkiv's 1 million plus people say they will stand ready to defend their city against one of the world's greatest military powers. They expect many Ukrainians will do the same. Dr. Oleksandr Dikalo's public dental clinic, which he runs on the ground floor of a 16-story apartment building, is listed as an emergency shelter for hundreds of residents. Dikalo knows how to handle weapons as well, from his days as a soldier in the Soviet Army when he was stationed in East Germany. His wife works as a doctor at Kharkiv's emergency hospital and regularly tends to Ukrainian soldiers wounded at the front. Most of the estimated 14,000 who have died in the conflict were killed in 2014 and 2015, but every month brings new casualties. "Everything depends on us, the residents of Kharkiv," Dikalo said and added that Kharkiv residents must "stand up" and defend their city. At 60 he's too old to join the civil defense units forming across the country, but he's ready to act to keep Kharkiv from falling. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said recently that any escalation could hinge on Kharkiv. The city is also the base for Yevheniy Murayev, identified by British intelligence as the person Russia was considering installing as president. "Kharkiv has over 1 million citizens," Zelenskyy told The Washington Post. "It's not going to be just an occupation; it's going to be the beginning of a large-scale war." That is precisely what Anton Dotsenko fears. At 18, he was front and center in the wave of protests that brought down the pro-Russia government in 2014. Now he's a 24-year-old tech worker, and he's had enough upheaval. "I just don't want anyone to die. That's my main wish.", he said. A nationalist youth group in the city, however, is ready to defend Kharkiv - no matter what the cost is. They meet weekly in an abandoned construction site, masked and clad in black as they practice maneuvers. "Kharkiv is my home and as a native it is the most important city for me to protect", one member said. The same sentiment rings out among Ukrainians in the capital, Kyiv, and in the far west, in Lviv. Russia denies having plans for an offensive, but it demands promises from NATO to keep Ukraine out of the alliance, halt the deployment of NATO weapons near Russian borders and to roll back NATO forces from Eastern Europe. NATO and the U.S. call those demands impossible. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...