“We wanted to be ready to repel any kind of Ukrainian attack or provocation,” explained Mikhail Nichik, a member of SWF. “We started thinking how we would defend ourselves with baseball bats and iron bars. We figured out who'd done military service, who could give a knife-fighting course.” Within days, self-defence units like SWF were blockading Ukrainian military bases and government offices. Women also took part. Natalya Malyarchuk, 52, headed out with her dog Esger, a Central Asian wolfhound, to serve at a checkpoint on the edge of the city. “I was prepared to stand to the death,” she recalled this week.