In the video that accompanies this news, EL PAÍS delves into one of the training sessions for civilians that have been taking place in Ukraine since Russia began the invasion of the country. The meeting takes place in the old film library of Lviv (Leopolis, in Spanish), which the war scene has forced to convert into a war room in which citizens are taught to use the weapons with which they will face the troops of Vladimir Putin. Some of these volunteers had already fought in the conflict that broke out in the Donbas region, in the east of the state, in 2014, when the Kremlin annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. For many others, however, this is the first time they have been on the front lines of war. And his enemy is the second most powerful army in the world.
Despite everything, the inferiority of the neighboring country’s troops has not prevented the Ukrainians from standing up to their invaders, to whom they refuse to give up. To alleviate the insufficiency of professional soldiers, many civilians have volunteered to go to the front and help defend, either by taking up arms or in rearguard tasks. “Experience shows us that weapons were brought, handed over to people, and everyone took them,” says one of the volunteers at this makeshift training center.
In the current scenario, everything has gone into the background, including the pandemic. In this video report nobody remembers what a mask was, except the journalists themselves. Priorities have been rearranged and the first thing is to learn to mount and handle a rifle.
Follow all the international information in Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
subscribe
