Sergiy Miliutin was meant to be handing out competition awards to children at a nuclear bunker instead of sitting at his desk dealing with emergencies as his south Ukrainian city slowly lost its lights. But the burly and cheerful deputy mayor of Kryvyi Rig has grown used to his phone constantly demanding his attention after […]
Sergiy Miliutin was meant to be handing out competition awards to children at a nuclear bunker instead of sitting at his desk dealing with emergencies as his south Ukrainian city slowly lost its lights. But the burly and cheerful deputy mayor of Kryvyi Rig has grown used to his phone constantly demanding his attention after…
But the burly and cheerful deputy mayor of Kryvyi Rig has grown used to his phone constantly demanding his attention after eight months of war. And as he navigates problems above ground, the competition continues in an adapted underground bunker, once a grimly-lit concrete basement but now a place where Ukrainians come to reaffirm their commitment to life despite the draining conflict.
The boys and girls proudly paraded around in white martial arts costumes for the city’s finals of the annual hand-to-hand combat competition. The main bunker in Kryvyi Rig has hosted everything from pop concerts to comedy shows from the Studio Kvartal 95 TV crew that launched the career of now-President Volodymyr Zelensky.