The metro systems of the former USSR were built for more than just transportation. The Kiev subway is no exception: it is a huge nuclear bunker with many special facilities meant to help people survive a nuclear war. When the USSR collapsed and the Cold War became a thing of the past, many of these facilities were left unfinished. The Another.Kiev team explored one of the amazing unfinished, abandoned bunkers connected to the Kiev metro system.
This bunker sits parallel to the working subway tunnel and even the workers who are down in the tunnels every night don’t know about the place. It was under construction from 1987 to 1989, after which the government stopped funding the project, and the site has now stood abandoned for 29 years. The huge labyrinth of tunnels is the size of a city block, and we spent three hours just exploring all of it.
In one place we found a chalk sketch of the bunker’s map drawn on the wall by one of the workers. There are three major infrastructure blocks; the biggest is 12 meters high and was meant to house four diesel train engines.
In the center of this shot you can see the elevator frame. The top of the shaft is covered with concrete blocks and has no exit to the surface.
One of the additional blocks is made from iron tubing. There is no wind inside, so stalactites can grow up to three meters long, just like in a natural cave.
Junctions inside the communication bunker.
Come with us on the Kyiv Urbex Tour of the underground tunnel system and Cold War bunker!
This is a side tunnel.
This is a major tunnel, 12 meters high; at the far end you can see where it connects to the side tunnel.
The sections of the bunker are separated by blast-resistant doors. They are rusty and look really creepy.
At the bottom of this tunnel we found FP-300 air filters, the kind used in Soviet nuclear bunkers. If you join our Combo Urbex Tour in Kiev one day, you will see them in the bunker.
This is an unfinished blast-resistant door, 4×4 meters. Behind it is the exit to the working metro tunnels.
A side tunnel with three-meter-long stalactites.
A trolley in the abandoned tunnel. The humidity is 100%, so you can see what looks like fog in the picture.
A similar site in the Moscow metro has been restored for visitors, and you can now tour Protected Command Bunker №42 with a guide. But this place seems to have no such future, because Ukraine is not living under the threat of nuclear war at the moment, so all this infrastructure is no longer in demand.
We should warn all urbex lovers that this site is heavily guarded by police, and at the moment there is no chance of getting inside. But if you like places like this, we can take you along on our Kiev Urban Exploration Tour, where you will visit one of the abandoned nuclear bunkers in Kiev.
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