Doors opening and closing, telephones ringing, the sound of meetings taking place, and everywhere box upon cardboard box stacked to the ceilings, each marked with the names of cities and towns near the frontline of the war with Russia.
I’m in the buzzing offices of the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation in Kyiv’s city centre.
This foundation raises private money from donations inside Ukraine and from around the world to provide the equipment the military desperately needs.
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The marked boxes are awaiting dispatch to the military.
There is everything they need or request for modern warfare – Starlink satellite internet systems by the dozen, box after box of drones ready for conversion by the military to attack Russian positions.
A member of staff, Maria Pysarenko, unpacks a carefully packaged military-grade night sight. She explains the foundation had to get a US State Department license to buy these. They are restricted all over the world, but they have them.
Indeed, this foundation even provides the military with second-hand British-made armoured personnel carriers, but their most audacious purchase simply has to be a spy satellite they bought that is now circling the planet, monitoring and reporting on the movement of Russian troops.
I meet the foundation’s founder Serhiy Prytula sitting at a long table beneath a beautifully wood-carved and illuminated map of Ukraine.
A former comedian and TV presenter, Mr Prytula decided to start fundraising to help the military in 2014 when Russia took control of Crimea, and he set up the foundation in 2020 with his best friend Pavlo Petrychenko who was killed on the battlefield in April.
He tells me Ukrainians are grateful for the help so far but are concerned Western powers may lose their appetite to help Kyiv – or are giving Ukraine false hope.
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‘Nobody cares about escalation from the evil side’
Mr Prytula pointed out that North Korea is supporting Russia with troops and Iran is supporting them with missiles and drones.
But when Ukraine asks its allies for help, for example asking for tanks, the discussions last months, even years.
“Nobody cares about escalation from the evil side, but our partners waste time every time when we ask about some new help,” he says.
“Time in Europe and North America is about minutes, seconds, hours – time in Ukraine is about people’s lives, and I’m not just talking about our military who very bravely fight, but I am also talking about lives of our children and civilian people.”
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Charity has raised over $200m in 1,000 days
The only thing the foundation doesn’t buy are actual missiles and arms, their biggest international donors draw the line at this.
What is truly amazing is the amount of money the foundation has raised. Up to this 1,000th day of the war, they have raised over $200m (£158m) – in charity terms that is quite extraordinary.
Mr Prytula worries war fatigue might be setting in outside of Ukraine.
“Maybe they have some war fatigue, it’s normal for some people, but I’ve never understood how you can have war fatigue when you don’t live in Ukraine, when you don’t have to wake up with air raid sirens and drones above your apartment,” he says.
‘We have a lot of reasons to not give up’
The foundation has gone from strength to strength and is now so closely linked to the military and the government, it is an essential part of Ukraine’s war effort.
Referring to the early weeks of the invasion when Russian soldiers ran amok in towns outside of Kyiv, Mr Prytula says it’s clear that ordinary Ukrainians simply won’t stop fighting for their lives.
“Just imagine what they will do with Ukrainians after 1,000 days of fighting for our independence, if they [did] such horrible things with our civilian people, with our women, with our kids, [in the] first few months of occupation. So that’s why we have a lot of reasons to not give up and to fight.”
Sombre atmosphere as Ukraine marks milestone
This has been a sombre day in Ukraine.
To many, 1,000 days of war is almost more shocking than saying the words “nearly three years”.
In the darkness, beneath Ukraine’s motherland statue – her shield lit up with blue and yellow beams of light – soldiers stand to attention at a military vigil.
They’re remembering their lost comrades in a war that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands. It’s an attrition rate Ukraine is struggling to deal with.
A thousand days have passed, but it is just another day in this war.