Sasha and Vlad are teenagers. Vlad has a little fluff on his chin, but Sasha is yet to shave.
Tetiana’s long nails are painted deep pink to match her lipstick. Her phone sits in a metal case bearing the Louis Vuitton logo.
Boris, a twinkly Father Christmas lookalike, has three grandchildren. While Maxim used to drive a forklift truck in a meat-packing plant in rural Ireland.
All are now in Kyiv, bearing arms and wearing the combat fatigues of the territorial defence units – the Ukrainian citizens’ militia.
And all of them are determined to fight.
Tetiana, who is normally a fitness instructor, has not told her mother she has volunteered to join Ukraine’s Civil Defence Force
Maxim, who has been working as a forklift driver in Ireland, has returned to Ukraine to fight the Russian invaders
More than two million refugees, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine but the authorities here have imposed a ban on men aged 18-60 years old leaving the country.
Amid the existential threat posed by the Russian invasion, they are deemed to be of military use – and could be sent to the front line.
Yet, having been given access to one territorial defence unit in central Kyiv, it is evident that some recruits are both significantly younger and much older than the officially prescribed age range.
We meet Sasha and Vlad on foot patrol through central Kyiv’s Taras Shevchenko Park – named after Ukraine’s most famous poet, whose giant statue looks down on the surrounding gardens.
The boys – and they are only boys and yet to fill out – are clad in brand new fatigues and helmets. Their boots look painfully stiff.
Both are carrying assault rifles and look vaguely embarrassed by the attention.
Vlad, 17, is from the city of Dnipro and plays the piano. Sasha, from Kyiv, is 16 years old and plays classical guitar in his spare time.
They met as cadets at the Kyiv Military Lyceum, where they were taught the basics of soldiering.
‘We joined up on the first day of the war. We thought they wouldn’t take us because we weren’t eighteen yet, but they have, as you can see,’ Vlad tells me.
Tania, who is a 20-year-old student, has also joined the fight. Thousands of people have volunteered to join the militia
‘This is our land, our country and no sick or brainwashed people are going to be allowed to invade it.
‘They are killing women and children and simply want to destroy our nation. Nato should close our skies and that would save a lot of lives.’
Sasha adds: ‘My mum is very nervous, like every mum would be. She wants me to keep my service to within the boundaries of Kyiv and not anywhere else.
Sasha, 16, (left) and Vlad, 17, (right) are both seen here on patrol in central Kyiv. Sasha says his mother is ‘very nervous’ about him
‘But, of course, in war, that is not our decision to make.’
And off they shamble, still blushing.
Tetiana, 37, is the only female in the Bratstvo Battalion. She has striking, bottle-blonde hair and is carrying a Kalashnikov.
‘Yes, of course I know how to use this,’ she says. ‘I used to be an officer in the army reserves.’
Too old to wield a weapon… but he’s a dab hand with a dishcloth
Boris is unable to fight on the front line, but is proud he can help by washing dishes
At 72 years old, Boris may be too old to join the battle’s front line.
But that hasn’t stopped him from volunteering for the Ukrainian Civil Defence Force in Kyiv.
The former engineer, pictured, said: ‘I take on the most difficult work in the territorial defence unit, the stuff that no one else wants to do.
‘I wash the dishes in the canteen kitchen. Someone has to do it, though I would like to be on the front line. It is more interesting there.’
He added: ‘I am from Donetsk and in 2014, I witnessed my friend being killed by Russian separatists. They shot at me too, but missed.’
Her parents are trapped in a town that was bombed the previous night, she tells me.
‘They hit a church and an administrative building. My parents are okay, but you never know what is around the corner.’
They don’t know she is back in uniform: ‘I had to lie to stop them worrying. I have only told my sisters.’
A fitness instructor and IT teacher, Tetiana also signed up on the first day of the invasion: ‘I simply have to protect my motherland against this aggression.’
She is far from the only woman in the militia.
Tanya, 20, who is finishing her lunch at headquarters, says she was a student until last week ‘but it is my duty to be here now’.
And at 72, Boris is almost four times her age, but he too volunteered for service.
An engineer by training, he is wearing a combat vest and a North Face beanie. But he still looks like a bespectacled Santa.
I noticed several soldiers wearing an Irish tricolour on their uniform sleeves.
One of them is Maxim, 27, who returned to Kyiv 11 days ago.
He says: ‘Yes, I live in Ireland now. I am a forklift truck operator and I live in a village about 12 miles from Portlaoise [about 60 miles from Dublin].
‘I love Ireland, apart from the weather of course, and the people there are very supportive of our cause. But I had to be here.’
Maxim says that after the war he intends to return to Laois and find a new job as a scaffolder and, he hopes, a girlfriend.
But it’s hard not to wonder how many of these brave volunteers will survive this desperate war.
Their idealism and defiance is reminiscent of the first lines of Zapovit, Shevchenko’s most famous poem with which I have become familiar: ‘When I am dead, bury me/ In my beloved Ukraine/ My tomb upon a grave mound high/ Amid the spreading plain/ So that the fields, the boundless steppes/ The Dnieper’s plunging shore/ My eyes could see, my ears could hear/ The mighty river roar.’
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