The Big Shelter: How Kyiv’s Metro Stations Became Essential Bunkers for Millions

The sight of the long escalators carrying people back to the surface after an air raid is emotionally resonant. It is a slow, vertical migration from the darkness back to the light, a return to the precarious world above. This ascent is never a full return to normalcy, but a temporary relief, as everyone knows the direction of travel could be reversed at any moment.