Walking through a warren of tunnels under central Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was from this secure compound that he started marshalling Ukraine's response to Russia's invasion on February 24, 2022.
To mark the fourth anniversary of the war, Zelensky posted a video message to the nation on Tuesday, shot inside the bunker complex, the most comprehensive look at the facility, which has gained cult status inside Ukraine as a symbol of resistance.
"This office, this small room in the bunker on Bankova Street, this is where I held my first conversations with world leaders at the start of the war," Zelensky said in the address.
Sitting on a black leather chair in a cramped, white-walled room, Zelensky said: "Here I spoke with President (Joe) Biden, and it was right here that I heard: 'Volodymyr, there is a threat. You need to leave Ukraine urgently. We are ready to help with that.'"
"And here I replied that I need ammunition, not a ride."
The presidential headquarters is in Bankova Street. The bunker appears to be a vast Soviet-era bomb shelter designed to support a rump government in the event of a massive attack on the Ukrainian capital.
During the Soviet Union, the now presidential palace was the former headquarters of the Communist Party.
Zelensky, like other leaders, had criticised the building's oppressive atmosphere -- but since Russia's invasion, the complex has proved a useful sanctuary within the now sealed-off government HQ, encircled by a ring of military checkpoints.
AFP heard gunfire near the building on the first day of the Russian invasion, and sources said a vehicle packed with explosives had tried to break into the compound.
Underground resistance
Branching off from long, narrow corridors with low curved ceilings are small rooms for different branches of government -- the presidency, the cabinet of ministers, and the parliament. Inside each, a dozen or so chairs, a TV screen, and Ukrainian flags, Zelensky's video shows.
Rows of black cables run along the side of the walls, while large gas pipes and electrical boxes are fixed to the ceilings.
Blue and yellow signs -- the colours of the Ukrainian flag -- direct people to different rooms in the tunnel labyrinth.
Bright posters dot the walls, honouring Ukraine's war effort and soldiers -- the only drab of colour alongside luminous green emergency exit signs and red-and-white safety tape fixed to the low ceilings.
Zelensky -- around 170cm (five feet six inches) tall -- ducked as he walked through one, surrounded by exposed wiring, control boxes.
Before a thick metal door leading into the presidential administration was a large yellow-and-blue map of Ukraine, a white dove over the top and the phrase: "God save Ukraine".
"Here was our team, the government, daily coordination with the military, phone calls, the search for solutions –- everything necessary for Ukraine to endure," Zelensky said.
"Weapons had to be delivered. Medicine and food were delivered to cities blockaded by the enemy," he said.
The 19-minute address aimed to rally Ukrainians, recalling the spirit of resistance that embodied the nation when Russia first invaded.
Following years of grinding war and immense losses, Kyiv is being pushed by US President Donald Trump to accept a peace deal that cedes land to Russia and fatigue with the fighting and relentless missile and drone attacks by Moscow's forces is running high.
