Away from Ukraine's worst conflict zones, people gather to make camo nets for the army and bandages for the wounded

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Away from Ukraine's worst conflict zones, people gather to make camo nets for the army and bandages for the wounded
A file photo shows Ukrainian soldiers near Kharkiv on February 26, 2022. The people in this article are in a different part of Ukraine.Andrew Marienko/AP Photo
  • Away from the worst of Russia's onslaught, a community in central Ukraine is rallying.
  • One Ukrainian woman told Insider about their efforts to support soldiers and refugees.
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Mila Yutskevych is miles from home, and her job right now is to make army nets for camouflage. She's never done it before.

The 32-year-old Ukrainian civil engineer from Kyiv was on a work trip in Mariupol when Russia invaded. It quickly became one of the most dangerous places in the country, the focus of shelling and relentless attack.

With her Kyiv friends telling her not to return home either, she fled to a family home in central Ukraine, where, as of Tuesday, there were no Russian troops.

Insider is aware of Yutskevych's location, but is not disclosing it for her safety.

In that relative quiet, the city is expecting a flow of displaced people. On Sunday, the EU said that the number of internally displaced Ukrainians could reach seven million, Reuters reported.

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Like many other Ukrainians, Yutskevych has suddenly found herself in a makeshift community. Around her, she said, women and who are busying themselves with anything they can do to support soldiers and refugees.

Away from Ukraine's worst conflict zones, people gather to make camo nets for the army and bandages for the wounded
Local residents make camouflage nets in a central Ukrainian city on February 27, 2022. Picture not provided by source.Oleksandr Lapin/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images

A large municipal building has become their base of operations, where they cook, collect medicine, turn old sheets into bandages, and make camouflage netting. People sleep in shifts to keep an eye on the news.

Nearby, her mother has been among people gathering clothes and useful goods for refugees. Yutskevych, a natural organizer, also used WhatsApp to coordinate a group in Kyiv to start making Molotov cocktails.

She said there is a rule against taking photos of volunteer centers and her neighborhood.

It's a state of manic activity, nervous tension — and a strange sense of good cheer.

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"A lot of people are helping right now, just to do something," she told Insider. "Not to sit and only think about the situation or read news."

For her — suddenly living with six other family members plus two children and a cat, in her mother's house — being active is better than sitting still.

"I think right now we are all on adrenaline, so the hard part will be when this is all over," she said.

"After this I'm going to have such an adrenaline headache, even a hangover," she said, laughing.

Despite the terrifying news across the country, the mood where she is has cheerful moments, Yutskevych said. "People are quite optimistic, people joking, people telling stories," she said.

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Inept Russian propaganda about the situation is particularly funny, she said.

Russia "united us all"

Ukrainians have lived with the tensions and conflicts of bordering Russia for a long time.

After the 2014 overthrow of then-President Viktor Yanukovych, Putin's troops annexed Crimea, while backing separatists in the eastern region of Donbas.

Away from Ukraine's worst conflict zones, people gather to make camo nets for the army and bandages for the wounded
Russian soldiers stand near a tank at a former Ukrainian military base in Perevalne, outside Simferopol, Crimea, March 27, 2014.Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo

"We actually lived in a state of war since 2014," Yutskevych said. "Before this, we were quite used to [the thought] that somewhere there are shells, somewhere there are soldiers dying."

"It's maybe because of this that we weren't so scared of what would come."

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"Yes, it's a lot of pain, it's a lot of tears, it's a lot of fear for all our relatives, for the people of Ukraine, but we are managing this and we have really high spirits."

One joke going round seemed particularly ironic. By invading, "Russia managed to do what 30 years of independence didn't manage to do — they united us all," she said.

"I don't want to live in the world where we couldn't stand against Russia"

It goes a long way towards explaining why Yutskevych is optimistic even as Ukraine faces a military onslaught. And another cause of pride was a major surprise to her: President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In the space of five days, Ukraine's populist leader, a former comedy actor, has morphed into a wartime leader. He's gained near-universal praise for his stirring appeals to allies and his commitment to staying and fighting in Ukraine.

Away from Ukraine's worst conflict zones, people gather to make camo nets for the army and bandages for the wounded
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky

It wasn't always like that. Yutskevych did not approve of Zelensky's politics before the war. His deeply unexpected rise to power in 2019 was greeted with skepticism — particularly how he would tackle the country's endemic corruption.

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"This is really interesting because I was not a big fan of him," said Yutskevych. Nor, she said, were her close friends.

"And after his speech at the Munich conference, it was so surprising for us," she said, referring to his show-stopping address at the Munich Security Conference just before the war began.

"It was the first time that I wasn't embarrassed that he is my president."

Soon after Insider spoke to Yutskevych, she and her family spent an hour barricaded at home, waiting out an air-raid siren.

It was a sobering moment amid the flurry of activity. As of Tuesday, satellite images showed a 40-mile long convoy of Russian vehicles approaching Kyiv. Yutskevych told Insider that, if it came to it, she would take up arms.

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"I don't see any other way for me, because if we don't stand against this, I don't want to live in the world where we couldn't stand against Russia," she said.

"I am really passionate about Ukrainians being independent and going our own way. For me it's the only way."

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