Authorities have canceled Independence Day celebrations and there is widespread concern about missile attacks, but people in Kyiv are taking a defiant tone and turning out in droves to see an unusual sight: a collection of damaged Russian missiles, tanks and other armored vehicles. Damaged military hardware has been erected along the city’s main street by the Ukrainian army in an attempt to fool Russian soldiers who thought they would seize the capital in a few days last February and hold a victory parade there. The screen has struck a chord. For days this section of Khreshchatyk Avenue is filled with people strolling among the mechanical corpses. There was an almost carnival atmosphere, with vendors selling ice cream cones and cotton candy, while children played in tank turrets and young couples posed for selfies in front of burnt-out armored personnel carriers. Some onlookers took out pens and scratched messages on the vehicles. “Welcome to Ukraine,” reads one. “I like it because all this could have killed a lot of people in Ukraine,” said Valerie Kubitsky, who came to see the destroyed war machines Sunday with her husband, Volodymyr. “And maybe it’s wrong to say, but I hope that in all those tanks maybe some Russians died on board and they didn’t have a chance to kill any of us.” Zelensky warns of ‘ugly’ Russian attack as Ukraine prepares to celebrate Independence Day Ukrainians usually celebrate their country’s Independence Day on August 24 with parades, concerts and lots of flags. But this year’s celebrations have been put on hold and instead of a party, Ukraine is preparing for another wave of Russian incursions as Moscow’s invasion reaches the six-month mark. People in Kyiv have been warned not to gather in large numbers and the metro will stop running an hour earlier at 9pm so stations can be used as bomb shelters. Officials in Kharkiv, which has been bombarded relentlessly, have imposed a curfew that covers the whole of August 24. “Russia may try to do something particularly bad, something particularly cruel,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday. He also said Moscow may try to demoralize the Ukrainians by putting captured soldiers on trial in Mariupol on Wednesday. A woman poses for a photo next to a damaged Russian tank on a main street in Kyiv. Dozens of burnt-out Russian military vehicles remain around Kyiv after its failed attempt to capture the Ukrainian capital in the first month of the war. Volodymyr Kubitsky didn’t take the threats lightly, but as he surveyed the demolished Russian arsenal on Sunday, he wanted the whole country to come see it. “Many Ukrainians believe that the war is somewhere behind us and far, far away. But you see almost every one of that armored technology was close to Kyiv,” he said. “We should see it and all Ukrainians should remember it for centuries.” But here too there were fears of what could come on Wednesday. Dasha came to see the screen with a friend on Sunday, but didn’t stay in town for long. “We will leave Kyiv for Independence Day because my relatives are afraid that something will happen here,” said the 16-year-old student, who did not want to give her last name. “My parents say we better go somewhere else.” While people have been urged to stay home on August 24, there will be some official holiday reminders. Kyiv’s famous homeland monument will be lit up in the country’s national colors of yellow and blue, and prayers will be led by priests in the Hagia Sophia Cathedral. But, for the most part, Ukrainians will sulk and wait. There are few signs that the war will end soon. An advance by Russian forces in the east and south appears to have stalled, and the Ukrainian military has made little progress in its plan to retake Kherson. Bombs continue to rain down on cities and towns around Russia’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s military has had some recent success. It has destabilized the Russian military through a series of bombings of military bases and ammunition depots in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Crimea had been considered far from the conflict and is home to a major Russian naval base. Several more explosions occurred on Monday in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. Tensions have also risen with the death of Darya Dugina, daughter of Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin, who was a staunch supporter of the war. He was killed by a car bomb on Saturday night, and on Monday Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, claimed that a Ukrainian woman carried out the bombing and then fled to Estonia. The case has intensified calls in Russia for retaliation. Ukrainian officials have denied any involvement in the killing. They claim that their army is not at all interested in the Dugins, who were not well known in Ukraine. People climb atop a damaged Russian self-propelled artillery system in Kyiv. Amid all the terror, there will be a sign on Tuesday of Ukraine’s determination to return to some kind of normalcy. The Ukrainian Premier League will resume play for the first time since April, when the football season had to end early due to the war. Shakhtar Donetsk will play Metalist 1925 in Kyiv in the opening match. For safety reasons, all games will be played without fans and players will have to leave the pitch and head to shelters if an air raid siren sounds. Most matches will be held in Kyiv or western Ukraine. “It is very important to restore major football, as well as other national leagues, in Ukraine,” said Sports Minister Vadym Gutsait. “We keep fighting and cheering. We keep fighting and winning. However, Ukrainian sports and the will to win on all fronts cannot be stopped.” Two teams were forced out of the league due to the clashes – FC Mariupol and Desna Chernihiv, which is located near the border with Belarus and had its stadium heavily damaged by Russian missiles. The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
