Alongside the work of the State Emergency Service and municipal services, many volunteer groups have gathered to assist in dealing with the aftermath of Russian strikes. One such group is the Kyiv Bats, an emergency response organisation that helps Kyiv residents get back on their feet by installing plywood boards on windows and clearing debris after attacks.

Around 70 Bats volunteers were working at the strike site that day. The damage caused by the rocket was extensive. Several buildings' windows were blown out by the shockwave, with shattered glass and severely damaged frames.

“If not us, then who?”

Maryna Kartash, who lives alone in her apartment, reached out to the Bats for help. A crew of two young men and a forewoman responded. Maryna's apartment is located in the entrance closest to the neighbouring building, which was hit by the rocket. All the windows and metal structures in her apartment were destroyed.

The volunteers swept up the glass debris and packed it into industrial-strength bags. They also boarded up the damaged windows using plywood supplied by a local company.

Eighteen-year-old Mura has been volunteering at Kyiv Bats for over a year.

“I can at least help out a little here. Even if it’s just carrying a board, I’ll help – it’ll boost my karma,” she said. It was the third apartment that the young volunteer had been working that day.

Artem, who coordinates volunteers and brought two friends along, boarded up windows in another woman’s apartment in the same block of flats. All three are 18 years old and driven by a desire to help people. When asked why so many young people feel driven to help, Artem responded: “If not us, then who?”

“We have a little more time than people who have jobs. I can say with certainty that socially conscious young people understand that we need to help. The sooner we do it, the more comfortable people can feel,” Artem said. He joined the Kyiv Bats after a strike hit 300 metres from his home.

Rebuilding their future

Twenty-six-year-old Serhiy Shakhray is a Bat living in a building opposite the damaged one. A war veteran himself, he has suffered three concussions.

He was in bed when the rocket hit at 04.00 in the morning. From his window, he could see a gaping hole where part of the building had been. Serhiy grabbed his own medical kit and ran out to help the injured. He ended up working for the next 13 hours, getting people out of the damaged apartment and clearing the debris.

By the time the rescue teams arrived, Serhiy had already pulled a family with a little girl who has cerebral palsy out of a third-floor apartment. They were trapped when the stairwell landing collapsed.

“There were about five or six of us. We held on to each other and managed to rescue them. Then we rescued an elderly man from a neighbouring apartment. We found a woman buried under the rubble, 1.5–2 metres down. The flames made it difficult to reach her at first,” Serhiy recounted.

When the rescuers arrived, they slowly began to help civilians out from under the rubble.

“As we were coming down, we found a dead man near the wall of the building. He had been crushed by a concrete slab. I found out later that he was a Kyiv hockey player.”

Later, Serhiy and his friend helped to clear a space for a crane to drive in and start moving the rubble aside. “After a while, they cleared all civilians from the scene, so I went to help the volunteers install windows in the apartments.”

“At first, I was running purely on adrenaline, and then purely on moral resolve,” he said. “I swore an oath to the Ukrainian people to defend and help them.”

Serhiy said that seeing how people came together to clear the rubble restored his faith in Ukrainians, who he thought had become indifferent to the war.