Each time the door to the dimly-lit room clatters open, a cold breeze rustles a sheaf of Christmas lists pinned to the wall. One handwritten note asks for a camouflage net to cover a tank; another, for the ghillie suits snipers wear to stay hidden, which Ukrainians call “kikimora” after a long-haired swamp spirit of Slavic legend.
Gifts for government forces fighting Moscow-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine are taking shape in this makeshift workshop, housed in a half-ruined 19th-century fort in Kiev.
On a chilly Saturday afternoon, volunteers of all ages make winter tank camouflage by weaving strips of white cloth onto fishing nets, and stitch together long ribbons to create a kikimora. They are warmed by the buzz of conversation and an old engine block that serves as a log burner, and their lights are powered by a generator that occasionally conks out; in the small dormitory next door sleep several fighters just back from the front.
Every week, cars leave this and dozens of other workshops around the country for Donetsk and Luhansk, packed with essentials for Ukrainian servicemen who rely on volunteers to provide what the state cannot.
Corruption and neglect
For decades Ukraine has been strangled by corruption, bureaucracy, incompetence and neglect, and they continue to hamper the response of its new authorities to the insurgency in the east.
In tandem with a severe economic crisis, these chronic ills left Ukraine unable to manage the basics of recruitment, procurement and supply for its military, as Russia annexed Crimea and then helped organise and arm separatists militants.
Volunteer “battalions” of various kinds stepped in to fill the gap, whether fighting at the front or raising money for the war effort and buying, making and delivering everything from body armour to boxes of traditional Christmas biscuits.
"When Russians have a crisis they rush to buy televizory [televisions]," half-jokes one volunteer, Yulia Zubrova.
"In our crisis, we have to buy teplovizory [night-vision goggles]."
Kiev is now in talks to buy weapons from Nato states, and the US has passed a law allowing provision of $350 million in "lethal and non-lethal" military aid to Ukraine, but volunteers continue to bolster the nation's defences.
One group takes second-hand minibuses to the town of Slavutych, near Chernobyl, where engineers who repair nuclear power stations for a living armour-plate the vans and send them to the front. Another group of tech-savvy volunteers builds pilotless drones that Ukrainian forces use to survey rebel positions.
A website called The People’s Project crowdfunds the purchase of a vast range of items, from first-aid kits, soldiers’ dog-tags and walkie-talkies to artillery shells, training and equipment for snipers and fighter pilots.
“This is like a continuation of Maidan,” says Zubrova, using the Ukrainian name for both Kiev’s Independence Square and the revolution centred on the camp that protesters built there last winter.
“On Maidan’s frontline people threw Molotov cocktails; the second line delivered them; the third line made them and so on. Then there were people making food, getting firewood and everything else.
“It’s like that now, and the guys on the frontline in the east, those who are ready to die, depend on us for nearly everything. We can’t rely on the authorities.”
Nuclear arsenal
Ukraine gave up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in return for security pledges from Russia, the US and Britain that proved to be worthless, and its armed forces were eroded over 20 years by graft and a lack of professionalism that lingers today; Kiev’s military planners also never envisaged armed conflict with Russia.
During eight months of fighting that have killed some 4,600 civilians and 1,100 Ukrainian servicemen, soldiers have complained incessantly about a lack of basic kit and the low quality of equipment, and how slowly and haphazardly state supplies arrive compared with direct help from volunteers.
The poor preparation of the army also shows in the conduct of its so-called anti-terrorist operation, which relies on long-range fire from inaccurate artillery that often kills civilians; the rebels use the same tactics and weapons.
Winter will bring major challenges to government and separatist forces in the east, and to a beleaguered population that could face shortages of food and power.
Until there is peace, the volunteers say, all they can do is keep working.
“Hey, why doesn’t Ukraine have a nuclear missile?” asks Zubrova, to laughter from around the workshop.
“Because no one’s asked volunteers to make one yet.”