A resident of western Ukraine named Ihor has turned emergency preparedness into a way of life since the start of the full-scale war. During air raid alerts, he rehearses the route to his own underground shelter: he grabs an emergency backpack, rides a bicycle to an abandoned cellar, and locks himself inside until dawn. He says the prospect of a nuclear strike has made him rely first and foremost on himself.
Ihor is in his forties. He previously worked on the railway for about 15 years, then went into business and started a YouTube channel called “Survivalist.” Before February 24, 2022, he had no interest in survivalism, but on the day of the invasion, he recalls, he panic-bought long-lasting food. Later he began systematically studying what supplies of food, water, and medicine would be needed to survive alone for a month or longer. Along with canned goods, grains, and meat, he bought alcohol and cigarettes, believing they could become barter items if normal social order collapsed.
Ihor also assembled a medicine stockpile, including antibiotics, painkillers, fever reducers, a tourniquet, and potassium iodide. He says the substance could be needed in the event of a radiation threat, though he stresses that it should not be taken without certainty. According to the WHO, potassium iodide can indeed help protect the thyroid from radioactive iodine, but not from other radioactive substances. The publication notes that the man’s recommendations reflect only his personal view and are not official guidance.
After his family left the country, Ihor remained alone in an apartment on the outskirts of a large city in western Ukraine, whose name he asked not to be disclosed for security reasons. Over time, he acquired a smoothbore shotgun, grain reserves meant to last for years, a gas mask, a water filter, and a radio powered by a hand dynamo. He then found an abandoned cellar about a kilometer from his home, around four meters underground, and over several months converted it into a bunker with ventilation, electricity, water, and a small toilet area.
“Our task is to stay in the bunker for at least a week. Most people will die because they were unable to protect themselves,” Ihor says when discussing the consequences of possible radioactive contamination.
He believes that after such a disaster, survivors would face not only radiation but also shortages of clean water and food, as well as the threat of looting. For that reason, he argues, it is important to keep supplies, weapons, paper maps, books, and even sweets that can help sustain morale. He estimates the cost of his project at about $4,000, including repairs to the shelter, sewage work, food, medicine, the shotgun, and an inverter generator.
Despite having the option to leave, Ihor says he would remain in Ukraine even if the borders were opened. According to him, he has a military deferment because he cares for his elderly father, and his documents are in order. He sees the bunker not as a sign of fear, but as an attempt to prepare for a worst-case scenario that the war has made feel real to him.