LIVE FROM KIEV: Sheltering in a Basement in Ukraine – Missile and Drone Attacks a Way of Life

Air raid sirens blared as bombs fell across the city of Kyiv. I took shelter with most of the other hotel guests in the basement parking garage, thinking I should have booked the budget room instead of the deluxe since I wouldn’t be sleeping there anyway.

Everyone living and working in Ukraine has an alert app on their phone that provides warnings about air raids and tells them when to go to a shelter. When I was installing mine, it asked if I wanted to allow notifications, and I had to laugh because the only purpose of installing the app was to receive notifications. Otherwise, there was no point.

Another setting I had to be careful about was turning off the battery optimizer. I wanted this thing running at full power 24/7, even if it meant having to charge my phone more frequently.

During the day, people largely ignore the alerts. After four years of war, I guess people are just sick of them, and it would be impossible to lead a normal life if they responded to every warning. At night, however, people generally take them seriously because the attacks are much more intense and casualties can be high.

Around 1:30 a.m. on my first night in Kyiv, the Air Alert app on my phone went off, and almost immediately I heard explosions. I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, and headed to the basement parking garage as instructed. In fact, when I checked into the hotel, they had shown me the red footprints painted on the floor that marked the route to the shelter in an emergency.

Along the way, I passed families and couples, all carrying blankets, pillows, and other comfort items. Inside the shelter were a limited number of beds, several comfortable chairs, a couch, and a worktable, beside which one man sat calmly working on his laptop. Checking my phone, I was pleased to see we still had Wi-Fi, and I made a mental note to bring my laptop and some bedding the next time. Rookie mistakes, but fortunately, or unfortunately, the Russians would give me ample opportunity to perfect my routine for fleeing to the shelter.

Even in the basement, you could hear the explosions in the city above, but the room didn’t shake, and dust didn’t come raining down from the ceiling as I had imagined it would. Another way the experience differed from my expectations was that I didn’t see anyone crying or even praying. Even the children seemed to accept these nightly trips to the basement as a normal part of life.

The mood was simply quiet, nothing particularly remarkable. Part of that was probably because it was the middle of the night, and everyone was bleary-eyed and tired. Combined with the low artificial lighting in the concrete basement, the fatigue gave the scene a surreal, distant feeling.

When the attacks come, the app announces, “Attention. Air raid alert. Proceed to the nearest shelter. Don’t be careless. Your overconfidence is your weakness.” While years of conditioning have made it possible for Ukrainians to go about their lives, they have also led many people to remain out in the open despite the risk.

To add to the general madness of the situation, the English-language version of the app is voiced by Star Wars actor Mark Hamill. After about an hour, his voice could be heard a second time saying, “The air alert is over. May the Force be with you.”

When I returned to my room, I decided I had better pack a bugout bag so I would be ready next time. One of the hotel guests had told me that he had experienced attacks lasting as long as six hours. From then on, I packed my laptop in the bugout bag before going to sleep every night so I could get work done while in the shelter. I also packed chargers for my laptop and phone, a long-sleeve Captain America shirt to stay warm in the basement, the thick Captain America hoodie that I use as a pillow on missions, my military jacket to serve as a ground cloth on the concrete, a bottle of water, and a headlamp.

Another important lesson was to leave the bathroom light on and the door cracked open so there would be some light when I woke to an alert. I also learned not to empty my pockets before going to bed. I left my wallet, keys, identification, and everything else in my trousers so I could simply grab them and go. It also seemed advisable to start sleeping in PT shorts so I could grab my bugout bag and my trousers, be out the door in seconds, and get dressed once I reached the shelter.

Not ten minutes after I got back into bed, the alert went off again, so I grabbed my bag, followed the red footsteps, and headed back to the basement. Moving forward, I wondered whether it wouldn’t make more sense to just sleep in the basement all night and not have to worry about the alerts. Either way, I thought I would have to revise my work and sleep schedule, sleeping during the day like a vampire and working on my laptop at night in the shelter.

At 4:30 a.m., Luke Skywalker came on the app and said we could go back to our rooms.

When I arrived in Ukraine, I only booked a few nights at this hotel, thinking I might want to move somewhere else for the rest of my stay in Kyiv before proceeding to the front. But I’ve decided I really like the cellar, and it has good Wi-Fi. I bet people staying in cheap hotels have to shelter in the subway, while I’ve got this luxurious concrete basement. These are all concepts I will address in my hotel review: “Nicest bunker in the city.”

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