Kyiv Faces Shelter Shortfalls Amid Attacks

PHOTO CAPTION: FILE PHOTO: People take shelter inside a metro station during an overnight Russian missile and drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 2, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Photo

KYIV, July 29 — Intensifying Russian missile and drone attacks are exposing serious gaps in Kyiv’s shelter system, leaving residents angry over delayed construction, poor access and facilities that offer little protection.

Tetiana Lishchynska joined dozens of residents in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district this month to demand that authorities open a bomb shelter that has been under preparation since 2023.

“I had to run with my 4-year-old grandson to a clinic while there was a ballistic missile attack,” Lishchynska shouted during the gathering.

The clinic has a basement but is about seven minutes from her home. A ballistic missile can reach Kyiv in less than three minutes.

Lishchynska said she could reach a shelter at a nearby school in two minutes. The facility was supposed to open last year but will not begin operating until September because utility work and paperwork remain unfinished, officials said.

“Here, I could have come right away,” she said.

Instead, Lishchynska had to let a neighbor take her grandson and run ahead during the night because she could not keep pace.

Russian attacks killed 73 people in Kyiv during June and July, according to the city’s military administration.

As the attacks intensify, more residents are seeking shelter, including some who had not done so before.

Kyiv has 4,358 facilities intended to shelter its roughly 3 million residents, the city administration said. Only about 500 are considered proper bomb shelters.

Residents have accused authorities of complacency and described official appeals to seek safety as hypocritical when adequate shelters remain unavailable. One Sviatoshynskyi resident called the situation the “ultimate act of cynicism.”

Metro stations become crowded shelters

Kyiv’s 47 underground metro stations have become the city’s most dependable shelters, although they are not completely safe.

The entrance to a station in the Lukyanivskyi district, an area frequently targeted by Russia, has been damaged 10 times.

Residents sheltering more than 50 meters underground there on May 24 recalled smoke and dust entering after a wave of strikes.

Metro data showed that 41,000 people spent the night underground across Kyiv on June 2.

A record 56,000 people sought shelter in the metro on Thursday. Tensions rose among exhausted residents, with some complaining that camping tents occupied too much space.

Residents also said metro security guards sometimes prevent people from entering before air raid sirens begin, even when officials have warned that an attack may be approaching.

“Metro security treats people as if they are going there for fun,” said Dmytro Dichenko, a 30-year-old musician and marketing specialist.

Dichenko said he and his wife were turned away between waves of strikes last year. Missiles reached Kyiv after they returned home.

They now usually remain in their apartment during attacks because Dichenko’s prosthesis makes it difficult for him to run and he fears being caught outside.

Metro spokesperson Oksana Nykyforuk said the system was doing the best it could with its available resources and that its primary purpose remained transportation.

Delayed shelters fuel anger

Valentyna, a Sviatoshynskyi resident who did not provide her surname, lives in a building that lost part of its structure after being struck by a missile last year.

From her window, she can see a school shelter that was scheduled to open late last year. Authorities say it is still not ready.

During attacks, Valentyna must instead run to a less reliable basement farther away.

“What can you expect from our mad neighbor, Russia, when this is how people are treated in this country?” she said.

Oleksiy Sukennikov, head of the district’s education department, blamed bureaucracy for delays in opening two school shelters in Sviatoshynskyi.

Kyiv has more shelters than any other Ukrainian city, but an inspection by the state ombudsman’s office found problems at 93% of the 1,066 sites it reviewed nationwide, including 125 in the capital.

The problems included poor sanitation and maintenance and limited accessibility for people with disabilities.

“There were instances where facilities, listed in open sources as being accessible to the public, were closed or unfit for use,” the office said.

Residents said authorities frequently shifted responsibility when confronted about the problems.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city had allocated more than 1.1 billion hryvnias, or $24.51 million, to repair shelters this year.

He said the city had spent 7 billion hryvnias on shelters since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Residents face unsafe choices

People who do not live near metro stations or suitable shelters often must choose between several dangerous options.

Some remain in bathrooms or corridors, which offer no protection from a direct hit. Others enter basements where they could become trapped beneath rubble.

Residents frequently turn to social media after attacks to share where they spent the night and express their frustration.

One woman said she was denied entry to a shelter because she had a dog. Another said she rents hotel rooms to gain access to a hotel shelter, an option few residents can afford.

Many sleep in underground parking garages.

“The situation with shelters is very poor, given that we are now in the fifth year of the war,” Dichenko said. “As a result, we are seeing a higher number of civilian casualties.”

(Source: Reuters)