How a European art metropolis became a war zone in less than a week

(CNN) — Last Sunday, Kyiv was a bustling European city with trendy cafes, artwork on every corner, and fresh sushi available to order at midnight. Today it is a war zone.

Sirens echoing through the city, the unmistakable rumblings of explosions and attacks. The transformation inflicted on the city by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been surreal.

Just a week ago, Dniprovsʹkyy Park was packed with runners and cyclists taking advantage of the sunny weather to do their Sunday training.

The traffic-free park sits on an island across the river from the old town, its shores lined with sandy city beaches where kids typically run around and watch ducks swim.

In the historic Mariinskyi Park, families strolled and children enjoyed the park’s playground that features large boat-shaped trap bars.

Now the same city is reeling from a steady stream of news of yet another terrifying incident. A six-year-old boy killed in an intense shooting. A high-rise apartment building being attacked. The Kyiv reservoir dam destroyed. The streets are deserted, the feeling of dread hangs in the air.

Many have fled the city, encouraged by the authorities to leave while there was still a chance. The state railway company has been dispatching additional trains to the west for days, Kyiv’s main train station is packed with families waiting to catch the next one.

The same people who happily shopped in trendy stores lining Kyiv’s boulevards, dined in trendy restaurants, are now huddled in basements, underground parking lots and metro stations.

Instead of hanging out with friends, enjoying the sun, they now sleep on the floor, trying to calm their children who don’t understand why they can’t go to kindergarten.

Despite the shock and suffering of the last few days, the residents of Kyiv show incredible resolve and defiance.

Within hours of the invasion beginning, more than 18,000 responded to a call to defend the city and collected their firearms from authorities, according to Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

At the hotel where many Western journalists stay in the center of the city, the staff, who now stay there instead of being at home with their families, alternate between handing out blankets and bottled water in the bomb shelter and serving four kinds of Different types of egg dishes at the breakfast buffet.

A huge explosion lights up the night sky over Kyiv on Sunday, February 27. (Sean Walker/CNN)

And Kyiv’s roads that were once clogged with heavy traffic are now empty. Electronic billboards that displayed traffic updates last week now display a very different message: “Glory to Ukraine!”

A road sign seen on a deserted street in central Kyiv reads “Glory to Ukraine” on Saturday, February 26. (Ivana Kottasova/CNN)