"This Way I'm Less Afraid": Ukraine Citizens Pick Up Gun To Defend Nation

Ukraine military has urged anyone between the age of 18 and 60 to pick up a gun and get ready to fight.

Ukrainian historian Yuriy Korchemniy has never fired an assault rifle in his life.

But he joined scores of others and picked up a Kalashnikov when boxes of them were dumped from trucks and handed out to Ukraine's new volunteer defence units on day two of Russia's invasion.

"They gave out the rifles, loaded them for us and here we are," the 35-year-old said with a slightly sheepish grin.

The Kyiv bridge underpass he was guarding with a handful of other men -- some in their 50s -- leads to Western-backed President Volodymyr Zelensky's administrative complex.