As war drums beat in the West warning of a Russian invasion, the mood is tense on the contact line between Ukraine’s soldiers and Russian-allied separatists in eastern Ukraine.
A Ukrainian officer wearing an eye patch is reflected in a mirror on a position at the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory near Zolote, Ukraine, Feb. 19, 2022.
Immediate worries are focused on eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting the rebels since 2014 in a conflict that has killed some 14,000 people.
A Ukrainian officer fires an NLAW anti-tank weapon during an exercise in the Joint Forces Operation, in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Feb. 15, 2022.
Accusations of heightened fighting have been traded between the Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian authorities, with both sides reporting casualties.
Tetyana Tomenko, a local resident, cries standing in front of her damaged house after alleged shelling by separatist forces in Novognativka, eastern Ukraine, Feb. 20, 2022.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline take pensive smoke breaks, steal a moment to dance playfully, or take up fighting positions, their eyes haunted.
Ukrainian officers with the 34th Battalion dance to a performance by Larisa Borisenko, near the frontline village of Krymske, Luhansk region, in eastern Ukraine, Feb. 19, 2022.
Ordinary civilians across the country are taking part in military drills to prepare for a possible Russian invasion.
A young woman handles a weapon during basic combat training for civilians, organized by the Azov special forces unit of Ukraine's National Guard, in Mariupol, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Feb. 13, 2022.
In the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, separatist leaders have ordered a full military mobilization and sent more civilians to Russia, which has issued about 700,000 passports to residents of the rebel-held territories.
Employees of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations help an elderly woman arriving with other people from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to a bus to be taken to a temporary residence in the Volgograd region, at the railway station in Volzhsky, Volgograd region, Russia, Feb. 20, 2022.
People rushed to board trains and buses in eastern Ukraine as families held tearful goodbyes, with women and children waving as they departed for Russia.
People from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the territory controlled by pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, walk from a train to be taken to temporary residences in the Volgograd region, at the railway station in Volzhsky, Volgograd region, Russia, Feb. 20, 2022.
Elsewhere, waving national flags and placards with slogans such as "No Putin, No Cry," protestors in Odessa on Sunday said they had come out to demonstrate against a potential Russian invasion, and that they were prepared to defend their city if needed.
Demonstrators holding a huge Ukrainian flag march along the street in a show of unity on Sunday, marking the date on which, eight years ago, more than a hundred people were killed during Ukraine's Maidan revolution in Odessa, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022.
