KIEV, Ukraine — The sirens warning of Russian attacks are constant in Ukraine. Thousands of alerts have announced Russian airstrikes in the past two years. Some Ukrainians still hide when they can. Others largely ignore them.

One such sirens began wailing recently as 28-year-old singer Diana Oganesyan was walking late at night in the country’s capital, Kiev.

“I was returning home from my friend’s birthday party. The air raid siren just caught me in the middle of the street when there were no shelters nearby,” Oganesyan said. “So I was stuck there.”

As a singer, she did what came naturally to her. She started harmonizing with a mermaid and recorded herself on her phone. When she posted it on social media, it went viral.

“I didn’t expect it to attract so much attention,” she said. “Of course, I’m not happy that (the airstrikes) are happening, but I’m glad that my voice and the power of social media are drawing attention to the war in Ukraine.”

She says her small gesture reflects the strength of Ukrainians.

“No matter what happens, life has never stopped,” she explained. “We’re making art. We’re opening businesses. Guys are opening restaurants now, organizing festivals, drawing flowers around bullet holes. That’s what we do.”

When Russia carries out major air raids, as it has recently, some residents of Kiev and other major cities with metro systems go underground and wait out the attack. Sometimes they spontaneously break into song, as happened here in Kiev, expressing their love for the city.

In addition to the siren itself, the Ukrainian government has created an Air Alert app that displays its own warnings on mobile phones.

“Attention! Increased air threat in your area! Please go to the nearest shelter,” the message reads.

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How are Ukrainians coping?

“Before, we always tried to find a bomb shelter,” said Olexander Velhus, a 27-year-old tech worker.

Like most Ukrainians, he said he took the sirens very seriously when Russian airstrikes began across the country in February 2022, along with a full-scale invasion. That often meant getting out of bed on a freezing night and walking 100 yards with his girlfriend to an office building with a secure basement.

How are they reacting now?

“We just accept our fate,” he said with a smile.

Russian airstrikes can last for hours and most often occur at night. The initial siren often means that Ukraine has detected Russian warplanes, likely armed with long-range missiles, taking off hundreds of miles away, deep inside Russia.

After about 15 minutes, the phone app usually provides an update. It could be an “all is well” for your area — or an ominous notification that your region is a target.

Then it might be another half hour before you hear the windows shaking as Ukrainian air defenses fire missiles at the incoming Russian missiles.

“Basically, we wake up when we hear the explosions,” Velhus said. “Then we decide whether we want to go to the shelter or not.”

It is in Kiev, where air defense is extremely good. The kill rate is over 90%. But other parts of Ukraine are much more vulnerable, especially in the east and south, near the front lines.

Singer Diana Oganesyan now divides her time between Kyiv and London. She continues to perform in the Ukrainian capital under the pseudonym Melancholydi.

“We still make music, we still make art,” she said. “That doesn’t mean it’s easy. The conditions are worse, but they still do it because we’re Ukrainians. That’s what we do.”

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