Hundreds of people were forced to shelter overnight in the subway stations of the Kyiv Metro as Russian troops advanced on Ukraine’s capital. Families huddled on platforms and stairs, while some sheltered in train carriages. Civilians also sheltered in Kharkiv Metro in the east of the country.
At an average of 105 metres below street level, Kiev’s metro system is the deepest in the world. The network, which was completed during the height of the Cold War, was deliberately built deep into the ground to double up as a bomb shelter.
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As Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, Western intelligence services fear Kyiv could fall under Russian control by the weekend.
People take shelter in metro stations amid Russia’s military intervention in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 25, 2022. Photo: Konstantin Melnitskiy/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesPeople take shelter in a metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Photo: VIACHESLAV RATYNSKYI/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesPeople take shelter in a metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Photo: VIACHESLAV RATYNSKYI/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesPeople take shelter in a metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 24, 2022. A couple embrace on a platform at a Metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Photo: Ethan Swope/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesHundreds of people seek shelter underground, on the platform, inside the dark train cars, and even in the emergency exits, in metro subway station as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Photo: MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMESHundreds of people seek shelter underground in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Photo: MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES via Getty Hundreds of people seek shelter underground in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Photo: MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES via GettyCaman Denysenko tries to calm his spooked cat as he joins hundreds of people seeking shelter underground in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Photo: MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES via Getty People use their phone as they take shelter in a metro station in Kyiv in the morning of February 24, 2022. Photo: DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images People shelter in a subway station before a curfew comes into effect on February 24, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty ImagesHundreds of people seek shelter underground in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Photo: MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES via GettyHundreds of people seek shelter underground, on the platform, inside the dark train cars, and even in the emergency exits, in metro subway station as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Photo: MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES via Getty Photo:
