Lviv: The Russians are coming
As Russian troops fast advanced on other parts of Ukraine, residents in the picturesque western city of Lviv started bracing for war.
Within days of the beginning of the invasion, Lviv, 50 miles from the border with Poland and a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Ukrainians, rapidly transformed itself into a garrison town.
The city was ringed with checkpoints, a strict curfew was ordered and self-defense groups were formed to patrol streets, monitor access roads and look for saboteurs.
Community members started making so-called Molotov cocktails en masse, knitting camouflage nets, building anti-tank "hedgehogs" made from scavenged metal, and constructing barricades to help fortify the city.
With the swirling rumours and fear, and bodies of local fallen soldiers arriving everyday, groups of women started attending first aid courses as reservists in uniform lined ready to take up arms and be deployed to halt any Russian advance.
Within days of the beginning of the invasion, Lviv, 50 miles from the border with Poland and a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Ukrainians, rapidly transformed itself into a garrison town.
The city was ringed with checkpoints, a strict curfew was ordered and self-defense groups were formed to patrol streets, monitor access roads and look for saboteurs.
Community members started making so-called Molotov cocktails en masse, knitting camouflage nets, building anti-tank "hedgehogs" made from scavenged metal, and constructing barricades to help fortify the city.
With the swirling rumours and fear, and bodies of local fallen soldiers arriving everyday, groups of women started attending first aid courses as reservists in uniform lined ready to take up arms and be deployed to halt any Russian advance.