Oksana Lanskaya, a mother and successful Ukrainian food entrepreneur, admits being scared now that Russian military forces have encircled her nation and the threat of war grows stronger.
As at least 100,000 Russian troops mass on the border, the frozen food business the pregnant 35-year-old runs with her husband has just opened two new outlets.
'The situation is deeply worrying and we can't even imagine how bad it could get,' said Oksana, who is expecting her second child.
'As a business owner, I need to plan ahead – I have a production line, stores, supplies, deliveries. But what if Russia invades Ukraine tomorrow?'
Like many families in Kiev, Oksana has friends who lost everything when they fled their homes in 2014 as Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea and stirred up separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
'Should I just close my business now and sell everything while it's still not too late?' she asked.
No-one outside the Kremlin can answer that question. But this fretful woman shows how the mood in Kiev is growing worried with a majority of Ukraine's 44million population believing an attack seems likely and citizen militias preparing for guerrilla warfare against invading forces.
Oksana is a realist and frightened that history is set to repeat itself.
'Ukraine has little chance against Russia. Our soldiers will fight but they will be outnumbered. Also, the West will not go at war with Russia over Ukraine.
IAN BIRRELL: The mood in Kiev is growing worried with a majority of Ukraine's 44million population believing an attack seems likely and citizen militias preparing for guerrilla warfare against invading forces (Pictured: Anatoliy, a Ukrainian soldier with the 56th Brigade, in a trench on the front line on January 18, 2022 in Pisky, Ukraine)
IAN BIRRELL: Ukrainian forces are substantially stronger and better equipped - boosted by Britain's supply of short-range anti-tank missiles for self-defence and some troops to provide training. Military analyst Yuriy Butusov said support from the UK was significant, adding: 'Putin has to face the facts. London showed Moscow that in the event of full-scale hostilities, Ukraine will be provided with emergency assistance with weapons.'
Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured during a meeting at the Kremlin on Tuesday) has at least 100,000 troops and military hardware along the Ukraine border, say security analysts
Russian servicemen prepare their military vehicles to unload for Russia and Belarus joint military drill in Belarus on January 18
'We'll be left to face Russian tanks alone once again, like in 2014.'
This time, however, Ukrainian forces are substantially stronger and better equipped – boosted by Britain's supply of short-range anti-tank missiles for self-defence and some troops to provide training.
Military analyst Yuriy Butusov said support from the UK was significant, adding: 'Putin has to face the facts. London showed Moscow that in the event of full-scale hostilities, Ukraine will be provided with emergency assistance with weapons.'
Putin's intentions are hard to discern: is he trying to bully Ukraine into abandoning hopes of joining Nato or are we witnessing a more sinister build-up to a major war in Europe?
Certainly, there is disquiet in Ukraine over how its views become ignored in the geopolitical debate, seen so often as simply a clash between Russia and the West.
For example, the country's exclusion from last week's failed talks between Russia and US diplomats.
In the frantic effort to avert war, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky today, followed by talks with other foreign ministers including Britain's Liz Truss and Russia's Sergei Lavrov.
Ukraine's defence chief Oleksiy Danilov has warned about 122,000 Russian troops are massed within 200km of the border – and 143,000 more within a 400km zone.
It is thought Russia needs 175,000 to mount a full invasion.
Moscow has for weeks been massing tens of thousands of troops, tanks and artillery pieces along its eastern flank, sparking fears of an invasion, though the Kremlin has insisted it is merely a defence force (pictured, Russian forces currently massed in border regions)
For the past eight years, Ukraine has been fighting on its eastern flank against Kremlin-backed separatists in the self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk – a struggle that has left more than 14,000 dead and two million displaced.
This is a country used to living on an edge – and many citizens remain phlegmatic.
'I believe the chance of [a] Russian invasion is very low,' declared Oleksand Zhytniy, 40, an IT specialist in Kiev who joined pro-democracy protests in 2014 that forced out a pro-Russian president and sparked Putin's illegal seizure of Crimea.
Let us hope this man is right about the situation looking like a 'war scare' – although the father of two says he'll assist forces fighting the Russians if there is an invasion.
Tensions have been heightened by Friday's
