The Ukrainian national flag flies over the town of Kramatorsk, Ukraine on November 25, 2021. KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, November 30, Reuters -- Anatoliy Hrebeniuk was a child of the Soviet Union -- he grew up in a land where Russians and Ukrainians were united as neighbours within the bloc after World War Two.
He lives about 50 km 30 miles from the front line of fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in a conflict that has simmered for seven years.
If Kyiv's worst fears are realized, the region could soon be subsumed in a war between Russia and Ukraine.
We have a big fear that Russia will come here again. We have a lot of fear. The 78-year-old pensioner in the Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk remembers how separatists captured it in 2014 before government forces regained control.
I don't know how brotherly people all of a sudden became enemies, he added, speaking in Ukrainian. I don't know how this could have happened. How does everything depend on one man? The Ukrainian government says that Russian President Vladimir Putin has moved more than 90,000 troops to within reach of the border between the two countries.
The Kremlin has dismissed U.S. concerns about a possible invasion as an alarmist and says it poses no threat to any country. It denies being a party to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, although Reuters has previously gathered evidence that Moscow sent Russian troops and irregular fighters, and weapons, to help the separatists.
Larisa Turkova, 61, moved to Kramatorsk to escape Horlivka, now controlled by separatists. She is afraid of Putin's intentions.
She said that if Ukraine forces Russia to do something that Putin doesn't like, it's quite certain that an offensive will happen.
Turkova returned from a trip to Horlivka a few days ago when civilians are allowed to cross checkpoints along the frontline. She said there were constant explosions in the evenings and in the mornings. She said she felt safe in Kramatorsk.
The town declares its loyalty to the Ukrainian government by flying a giant blue and yellow national flag atop an 80 metre flagpole.
A monument with an infantry fighting vehicle commemorates the conflict that broke out in 2014, while a plaque pays tribute to Ukrainian officers who died in the city.
Roman Balaboiko, 34, volunteered on the government side at the beginning of the war and served in a helicopter brigade that evacuated wounded soldiers from the frontline. He says he keeps his backpack ready in case of a new attack.
He says local people are calm because they've been used to the idea that war could return any time for years.
He said that we will be the first to feel it and realize it if a large-scale attack happens here in the Donetsk and Luhansk region.
I think people here are tired of being afraid.