Armed, trained and ready: The people's militia waiting in wings

UKRAINIAN civilians are buying guns in record numbers and are vowing to resist Russia at all costs, as war continues to rage.

- By Zak Garner-Purkis in Ukraine

After a sleepless night of shelling, welder Evgeniy Vlasenko, 34, took out his frustration with a pistol at the Top Gun shooting range in capital Kyiv.

"I come here because of the war. We have a cursed neighbour who comes and kills us," he told the Express between drills, where he ducked around obstacles to ping shotgun bullets at metal targets.

"I bring friends here, many of whom have never shot before. It's relaxing emotionally," he added.

Evgeniy practises just miles from towns occupied in 2022 by Moscow's soldiers. Fears of their return, he says, make it necessary for him to learn to shoot.

He added: "It's better to have weapon-handling skills, they won't go to waste."