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

This sudden and profound shift in function highlights the sheer scale of the threat faced by the civilian population. When air raid sirens blare across Kyiv, signaling another incoming wave of hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, the city’s residents instinctively turn their gaze downwards. The metro entrances, usually just an entry point to the commute, become the most important portals in the entire city, offering a promise of relative safety against the indiscriminate destruction raining down from the sky. It is a mass movement driven by necessity, a collective dash for the depths, a grim ritual that defines the daily existence of millions.