(WHDH) — Ukraine residents are answering President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call to join the fight against Russia.
People in Kyiv could be seen digging trenches and collecting bottles to make Molotov cocktails as they prepare themselves for combat.
Maksym Yali, a college professor living in Ukraine, told 7NEWS that he plans to stay in Ukraine and face the Russian soldiers alongside many other civilians.
“People who never hold a gun in their arms ever take it and are ready to fight,” he said.
Yali added that every day hundreds of men in Kyiv are volunteering to take up arms and that everyone is working to make homemade bombs to throw at Russian tanks.
Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin, a couple who married on the first day of the Russian invasion, are also staying in Ukraine and are prepared to fight.
“We have heard the shootings near our homes and it was, you know, really, really scary and hard just to stay there and to hear that,” Arieva said.
Arieva is volunteering in Kyiv while Fursin goes on combat missions.
“It was hard waiting for my husband to come back from a combat mission for the first time,” Arieva recalled.
The couple says that spirits are high among the civilian fighters and they are hopeful that they will prevail over the invaders.
“I’m really happy to see such a great amount of people really being ready to fight, being ready to kill for their land, and having no doubt about our win in this war,” Arieva said.
The couple added that they hope to celebrate their marriage after the Russian troops are gone.
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