Sergiy Miliutin was supposed to be handing out competition prizes to children in a nuclear bunker instead of sitting at his desk dealing with emergencies while his southern Ukrainian city slowly lost its lights.

But the burly and cheerful deputy mayor of Kryvyi Rig has gotten used to the fact that his phone constantly demands his attention after eight months of war.

The Russians were pushed back about an hour’s drive from the edge of the Steel City.

They have responded by bombarding Ukraine’s energy grid with missiles to force the country into submission ahead of the cold winter months.

But the latest news from the front is increasingly optimistic.

Ukraine’s months-long counteroffensive has forced Russian-installed officials to begin evacuating the nearby regional capital of Kherson, which they captured in early March.

And while he overcomes problems above ground, the competition continues in an adapted underground bunker, once a dimly lit concrete basement but now a place where Ukrainians reaffirm their commitment to life despite the ebbing conflict.

Milyutin sounded philosophical as he munched on his meat wrap while typing on his phone to see which districts of the city needed emergency assistance.

“Of course I’m physically tired,” admitted the 45-year-old, a trained engineer.

“But I’ve gotten to a point where I’m just surviving my ride. You have to stay calm and conserve your strength. No one knows how long this will all last.”

In the bunker built in the 1960s to withstand the effects of a nuclear attack during the Cold War, the children’s competition continues without the deputy mayor.

Kryvyi Rig has turned it and similar underground dwellings into arenas and venues, bringing hundreds together for weekend events to give their children some semblance of normalcy.

The boys and girls proudly marched in white martial arts costumes to the city finals of the annual hand-to-hand combat competition.

Her exhausted-looking parents leaned against walls and flopped onto benches and watched their offspring thrash and flap around on square mats.

A presenter excitedly announced each fight over a loudspeaker that echoed far above the ground.

In Milyutin’s absence, the event was chaired by the national coach of the Ukrainian hand-to-hand combat team.

“Psychologically it is important that the children see that the adults have not forgotten them,” said coach Anatoliy Voloshyn of the AFP news agency, above all about the noise.

“You haven’t been to school in months. They needed to feel important again.”

The main bunker in Kryvyi Rig has hosted everything from pop concerts to comedy shows by the Studio Kvartal 95 TV crew, which launched the career of current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As in other industrial Ukrainian cities, life is delicately balanced between jubilation and despair as the war drags on.

The approach of any missile or – increasingly common – suicide drone is heralded by the soul-shattering wail of air raid sirens that blare day and night.

The news of each missile launched is celebrated on social media by a nation that has shifted much of its day-to-day life online.

Some parts of major cities are either in ruins or without light and electricity.

Others are filled with shoppers or smiling couples pushing strollers or walking dogs and ignoring air alerts.

The deputy mayor no longer knows how to take the sirens as seriously as he did in the first days of the war.

“We’re constantly reminding people – please, please, please don’t relax,” Milyutin said.

Russia quickly decided to focus its long-range air attack on large buildings that could potentially house officials or troops.

Because of the Russian bomb threat, schools and cinemas across Ukraine have stopped working.

Milyutin said it took a few months for everyone to realize that anything resembling normal life could resume in the long-forgotten bunkers that have littered the country since Soviet times.

“Everyone is very happy down here,” said coach Voloshyn. “It’s like there’s no war.”