Armed with hammers and pistols, Ukrainians wait at barricades for the Russians

The barricade started as a few men waiting nervously in the road on Friday, and grew gradually over the course of Saturday. By the afternoon, this modest attempt to stop a Russian advance on the capital of Ukraine was complete: sandbags, wooden crates and bricks piled high, with a blue-yellow national flag flying above them.

Others followed government instructions to start stockpiling molotov cocktails, hunt for Russian saboteurs and, beyond the city centre, take down road signs to confuse an invading army. Yet despite the success holding off the initial Russian onslaught, including during a pitched battle on the main Peremohy or victory avenue, Kyiv braced for worse on Saturday evening after Russia announced it had ordered troops to resume their offensive.

In preparation, the metro stopped running, with stations to be used only as air raid shelters, and a curfew brought in from 5pm on Saturday until Monday morning, the mayor announced. Anyone on the streets in that time would be considered a saboteur and could be shot. Bridges across the river Dniepr, which divides the city, were also closed in preparation.

Fuel is now scarce in and around Kyiv and most petrol stations are either out of petrol or are selling it only to Ukrainian soldiers who present identification.

For many in Kyiv the reality of a Russian invasion still felt hard to grasp, even as they adjusted to nights in bunkers, mounting deaths and the images of civilian homes ripped apart by missile strikes.

The ties between the two countries run so deep that the attack feels fratricidal to many, including the barricade defender Alexander.

The checkpoint defenders had yet to catch sight of any Russian troops or armour, but said they had caught one suspicious man overnight who had been found carrying maps of the area and markers to use for later Russian targeting, and had arrested him and handed him over to police.

In the city, people not heading for the front lines went underground as the curfew brought Saturday to an early end. Within an hour, blasts were once more echoing through the darkness, and the battle for Kyiv joined again.