Andriy, a 34-year-old bank clerk living in Kyiv, was very pleased with the announcement on Tuesday that Russian troops had started to move away from the border with Ukraine.
It seemed to lower the threat of an all-out Russian attack on Kyiv. It meant he might win a bet with his sister.
Most locals are going about their lives as normal.
He said that she took a plane to Poland on Saturday with her kids because they were reading about all this war threat, but I didn't believe it, and I wanted to stay because he had a haircut booked, as he took a stroll in the sunshine on the central Khreshchatyk street on Tuesday afternoon.
He said that we had a bet about whether the Russians would attack.
In recent days, many Kyiv residents, alarmed by the military build up, have shared Andriy scepticism about American warnings that their lives were about to be disrupted by missile barrages and that tank incursions would come to pass.
Reports of US diplomats destroying equipment and shredding documents at the embassy in Kyiv before fleeing the capital have sounded strangely with the atmosphere of calm in most of the Ukrainian capital over the past few days, reminiscent of the desperate scrambles to evacuate burning cities on the brink of capture.
On Monday night, bars and restaurants were full of couples enjoying Valentine's Day dates. During the day, the streets were busy with people going about their daily business.
Kyiv is calm. The restaurants and supermarkets are full. The absence of diplomats is compensated by abundance of journalists, according to Olexander Scherba, a former Ukrainian diplomat.
In recent weeks, the world's newspaper and television crews have descended on Kyiv, awaiting the Russian assault threatened by Putin's mass troops and promised by White House briefings.
The Russian announcement on Tuesday that some troops were being withdrawn from the border seemed to make that maximal outcome less likely, though the Ukrainian government is not relaxing yet.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter: We don't believe what we hear, we believe what we see. If there is a real withdrawal after these statements, we will believe in the beginning of a real de-escalation. Even if the withdrawal continues, news on Tuesday evening of a potential hacking attack against several Ukrainian banks and the ministry of defence website reminded that Russia's long, hybrid grind against Ukraine is likely to continue.
Ukrainian leaders have always believed that the war scenario in the White House was more likely than this kind of messy, piecemeal attack.
Over the last few days, a number of Kyiv residents have been making contingency plans, as local television news bulletins have drummed home the possibility of Russian action.
Vitaly Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said on Monday that the city was working to ensure that power, heating and water supplies would be uninterrupted in the event of a military incursion.
His administration released a map showing 4,500 possible bomb shelters for use in case of an attack on Kyiv. They included shops, bars, metro stations and in one case a strip club, all of which have promised to shelter people in the event of air strikes. Some people have bought water and food supplies in case they get stuck at home for days.
Many foreigners in Kyiv have decided to ignore the apocalyptic warnings from their embassies to leave Ukraine immediately, while many foreign diplomats have been sent home or evacuated to Lviv.
I am staying in Kyiv for now, even if the Russians start something, I just can't see it getting too dangerous to stay here, said Bryan, a 48-year-old American businessman who has been living in Kyiv for the past four years.
I find it a bit strange that our diplomats fled so quickly. The embassy is like a fortress, surely they have somewhere secure to be there, he added.