「最後の橋」に爆薬、ロシア軍阻止へ　緊迫のキエフ西郊

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】ウクライナの首都キエフ西郊の町ビロホロドカ。さらに西、川の向こうにはロシア軍が展開する。ウクライナ義勇軍の通称「キャスパー」軍曹は悲しみをこらえ、首都につながる「最後の橋」に爆薬を仕掛けた。（写真はウクライナ・ストヤンカの首都キエフ中心部に続く道路の最後の橋の近くに設置された検問所から双眼鏡で町を見るウクライナ兵）
　ロシア軍の進撃を遅らせるため、キエフの西側に架かる他の橋はすでに全て爆破された。町に沿って流れる川に架かる「最後の橋」の先には、夏の別荘地として知られる緑に囲まれた村々があるが、今は戦場となっている。
　キャスパー軍曹に橋の爆破命令が下れば、キエフと西方後背地との直接のアクセスは事実上、断たれることになる。元空挺（くうてい）隊員の軍曹は６日、「橋を守るためできる限りのことはする」とＡＦＰに語った。
　だが、戦火は近づきつつあり、バリケードを築く人々の表情は陰鬱（いんうつ）だ。ロシア軍は地上軍に加え、戦闘機を投入し、周辺の町や村を爆撃している。
　避難する住民は増える一方だ。まれに戦闘がやむと、ロシア軍がさらなる攻勢の準備をしているのではないかとの不安が膨らむ。
　「命令が下るか、もしくはロシア軍の進撃を確認すれば橋を爆破する」。キャスパー軍曹は前線の上空を飛ぶウクライナ軍の無人偵察機を見上げ、その時が近いかもしれないことを認めた。「ただし、それまでできる限り多くの敵戦車をつぶしてやる」

■狭まるキエフ包囲
　キエフ包囲の輪は日に日に狭まっている。危険度は増し、市街地は閑散としている。ドニエプル川東岸でも、ロシア軍が５０キロ圏内に迫っている。
　しかし、西側からの道はキエフ中心部と官庁街へ直接つながっている。
　キエフ市民の抵抗の意志は固いが、表情は険しさを増している。ゲリラ戦に備える人もいる。自動車修理工場を営むオレクサンドル・フェドチェンコさん（３８）もその一人だ。
　テレビで人気の自動車関連番組の司会を務めたこともあるフェドチェンコさんは、武器が著しく不足している義勇軍を支援するため、自らの工場で武器の修理や改造を始めた。
　「うちで働く一般レベルの自動車整備士でも武器を製造できることが分かった。火炎瓶の作り方を知っている従業員もいる。できることは何でもやっている」
　フェドチェンコさんの工場では、従業員全員が義勇軍に志願した。整備士の通称「クロス」さん（２８）は、ウクライナ軍が奪ったロシア軍戦車から取り外した大口径機関銃を、訓練を受けていない志願兵でも使える市街戦用の携行武器に改造していた。
　工場はキエフ西端の道路沿いにあり、ロシア軍のミサイル攻撃に対して無防備だ。「いつ攻撃されてもおかしくないと皆分かっている」と、フェドチェンコさんは涙を浮かべて言った
　「きょうが人生最後の日になるかもしれないと、覚悟の上だ。それでも皆やってくる」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/03/08-09:47）

The explosives tied under the belly of the last bridge standing between advancing Russian soldiers and Kyiv sadden Ukrainian volunteer forces sergeant Casper.
His fellow commanders have blown up all the other bridges on the western flank of the Ukrainian capital in a desperate bid to slow the Russian tanks.
The one still spanning a stream in the town of Bilogorodka leads to leafy villages that were once filled with summer cottages and are now a war zone.
The historic city of Kyiv would be effectively cut off from much of its western hinterland should Casper receive the order to blow the bridge up.
We will try to do everything possible to keep it standing, the former paratrooper told AFP on Sunday.
But the fighting is getting closer and the mood among the Ukrainians manning the barricades is turning morose.
Russian warplanes have joined the ground forces and are bombing the surrounding villages and towns.
The flood of people fleeing for safety seems never-ending.
And the rare hours of silence between the battles make the Ukrainian soldiers worry that the Russians are just reloading for an even more ferocious push.
Casper looks up at the Ukrainian surveillance drone buzzing over the frontline and admits that the hour may soon come when he is forced to sever Kyiv's last link to its western lands.
If we get the order from on high, or if we see the Russians advancing, we will blow it up, he said.
But we'll make sure to sink as many enemy tanks as we can while we do it.
- Shrinking city -
The Ukrainian capital's boundaries are shrinking and its streets are growing more dangerous and deserted by the day.
Another Russian push on the east bank of Kyiv's Dnipro River has seen some forces approach to within about 50 kilometres (30 miles).
But the west offers the Russians a more direct route to the heart of Kyiv and its prized government district.
Some of the city's residents -- almost uniformly defiant but increasingly grim-faced -- are preparing for guerrilla warfare.
Auto repair shop owner Oleksandr Fedchenko is one.
The 38-year-old used to host Ukraine's most popular weekly TV show about cars in his spare time.
But he has converted his sprawling garage into an underground weapons manufacturing centre aimed at giving some muscle to Ukraine's vastly outgunned volunteer units.
When the war started, everything changed, Fedchenko said.
We discovered that our regular mechanics knew how to manufacture weapons. Others knew how to make Molotov cocktails. We are doing absolutely everything we can.
- Underground weapons -
All the workers at Fedchenko's repair shop have swapped their grease-stained overalls for the olive uniforms of Ukraine's volunteer units.
A mechanic-turned-volunteer fighter who adopted the nom de guerre Cross was soldering a large-calibre machine gun Ukrainian troops had earlier grabbed from a captured Russian tank.
The 28-year-old was trying to slice down the massive gun and convert it into a handheld weapon that an untrained volunteer might be able to use on the streets.
This thing might not shoot very straight, but at least it's something, Cross said and gave his balaclava a reassuring tug.
Not many people know we do this and it might not be very legal, he said.
But when there is a war, what is legal no longer matters -- only our national defence does.
- No man's land -
Fedchenko's voice broke and his eyes glistened when recalling life before Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24.
I felt helpless. Stick a Kalashnikov in my arms, and I wouldn't last 10 minutes. But I needed to do something, he said.
His makeshift weapons manufacturing plant is woefully exposed to a Russian missile strike.
The huge garage sits on a road marking Kyiv's westernmost point. Numerous similar industrial buildings along the same route now stand in ruins.
Each one of us knows that we can be attacked at any moment, Fedchenko said.
Each one of us knows that this can be our last day. And still we come.
The tears were also streaming down the cheeks of pensioner Ganna Galnychenko.
The 64-year-old walked out alone from the fields marking the no man's land between the bridge overseen by Casper and Russian-held villages.
I don't know where my children are, she said in a quivering voice. I can't reach them by phone.