Video reportedly shows Ukrainian men helping themselves to guns on a Kyiv street after all 18-60 years were urged to take up arms and fight the Russian invasion
- A video reportedly shows Ukrainian men rummaging through boxes of firearms in a Kyiv suburb on Friday.
- Ukraine is providing weapons to any citizen wanting to fight against Russia. All they need is ID.
Ukrainian men helped themselves to guns on Friday, a video reportedly shows, a day after the country urged regular citizens to take up arms and fight against the Russian invasion.
The video, which was shared on Twitter by Illia Ponomarenko, the defense correspondent at the Kyiv Independent, appears to shows civilians on a suburban street in a Kyiv suburb rummaging through boxes of firearms unloaded from trucks, as a voice off-camera says "Slava Ukraini!" (Glory to Ukraine!).
It was reportedly filmed in the Obolon district, around 6 miles north of the city center, where Ukraine's Defense Forces asked residents to prepare homemade Molotov cocktails after Russian troops were spotted in the suburb on Friday morning.
"Firearms are delivered to anyone willing," Ponomarenko said in the tweet of the video.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky barred male citizens aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country as part of a military mobilization order, CNN reported.
Zelensky also said he would provide weapons to any citizen wanting to defend the country against Russian attacks.
"We give weapons to all patriots!" Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a tweet.
Some 18,000 machine guns have already been handed out to volunteers in Kyiv since the Russian invasion began on Thursday morning, Ukraine's Interior Ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko said, per the BBC.
The BBC also reported that armed civilians are regularly visible on the streets of Kyiv, citing an example of men in trainers and jeans with rifles slung across their backs.
The Agence France-Press interviewed Yuriy Korchemniy, a historian who has never fired an assault rifle in his life, about being handed a firearm.
"They gave out the rifles, loaded them for us and here we are," he said, per The Guardian. "I only know how to shoot single rounds, so my plan is to click this here and switch off the automatic mode."