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Kharkiv residents fortify basements against Russia attacks

Resting in the corner of a dimly lit room is a broken wooden stick with nails protruding from the top.

It's one of several makeshift weapons constructed by the residents of an apartment block in Kharkiv, just in case Russian soldiers arrive at their doorstep.

Ukraine's second-largest city has faced constant bombardment from Russian forces since the conflict flared up in late February.

Olia Fedorova, a multidisciplinary conceptual artist based in the city, has found herself, through circumstance, joining her neighbours in the basement of their building.

"We are lucky we have the basement inside our house. We do not need to go to the street. It's well protected and we have everything here like electricity - and we brought heaters."

Along with her boyfriend, Hlib, they form part of a commune which spends its days fortifying any vulnerable areas of the building. Planks are pushed against doors and pieces of cloth are stuffed into any gaps leading to the outside world.

When it is silent at night during curfew hours, Olia is concerned people outside can hear the group talking, even though they often venture below ground level to the basement.

"One day, Russian troops tried to invade the city. They were quickly eliminated, but some of them left their vehicles so it is scary that there were enemy soldiers running around your area. Through this door, you can hear armored vehicles passing by, so we decided to put cloth on it so no one could hear us from outside."

Planks are pushed against doors and pieces of cloth are stuffed into any gaps leading to the outside world (Pic: Olia Fedorova)

Whilst filming for Prime Time, Olia takes the camera through a labyrinth of corridors and passageways, encountering other members of a now subterranean community, who travel up and down from the basement to their apartments above, where they have better internet access and can retrieve belongings.

Down in the lower levels, teenagers and children play Monopoly, while, in the next room, older residents are covered head to toe in sleeping bags, sipping mugs of coffee and conversing.

"We know the panic and mental breakdown is what the enemy wants from us. Just to distract ourselves we play board games, watch movies, listen to music. We drink together to laugh," Olia told Prime Time.

Olia and Hlib had originally agreed a plan to leave Kharkiv with her mother and travel somewhere safe. Hlib would then return to join the Ukrainian territorial forces. But Olia's mum, who lives 30 minutes away by car, couldn't travel to them once the shelling of the city commenced.

Hlib still plans to join the territorial army in the near future.

"We decided we should stay because my boyfriend still wants to join the territorial troops. He was told by the command that we have so many volunteers right now we don't have enough weapons to provide to all of you. So please wait for your turn," he said.

For now, Olia is also staying where she is.

"I decided I should stay because I'm more useful here as a person who can share the situation with the world. The Russian soldiers are demotivated and demoralised because they were expecting we would meet them here with flowers," she said.

Ukraine's second-largest city has faced constant bombardment from Russian forces

"Kharkiv is very close to Russia geographically and historically and we are also a bilingual city. We speak both Ukrainian and Russian. They think we are almost Russian already. But when they faced a strong resistance, they didn't expect it."

In another room of the basement, several buckets line the floor. Each one is filled with Molotov cocktails. Olia hopes they won't need to use them, but they provide extra insurance.

But it is not just the Russian army this group are fighting against. In some cases, members of their immediate family do not believe Russia is to blame for the destruction of the city.

"We have plenty of relatives in Russia and we receive messages like 'why are you lying? You are not bombed by us. You are bombed by your own troops.' I cannot stay calm towards it. This anger is one of the emotions that keeps me alive and my adrenaline high," Olia said.

"Russian propaganda works very well and, unfortunately, some of my family members they constantly watch Russian TV channels. We call them and we hear on the phone there is shelling nearby them and they say it's not Russians. It's our army. It's so insane," she said.

"Many family relationships and friendships are broken."