Amid heightened tensions, unfruitful diplomatic efforts, saber-rattling, the deployment of thousands of troops and ongoing military exercises, the residents of Ukraine's second-largest city found themselves caught in uncertainty and fearing for their future.
Kharkiv, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine that is home to tank, aircraft and tractor factories, lies 42 kilometers (26 miles) from the Russian border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has identified it as a possible target of a Russian attack.
Russia has denied that it plans to attack Ukraine but has pressed the West for security guarantees, including a block on Ukraine joining the NATO alliance.
Kharkiv's mayor, Igor Terekhov, has said the city of 1.4 million will be "calm and collected" and he would not allow anybody to take it.
"I want to assure all Kharkiv residents that the city is ready to give a firm rebuff to a potential invader, we have all the forces to defend Kharkiv," Terekhov said on Facebook.
Interviewed this week, some residents said they would stay and fight, others might move.
"I do not have to stay in one place; if anything happens – I can work remotely," project manager Daniella Shatokhina told Reuters.
"I am trying not to think about it. I hope everything will be okay, I hope for the best. It's better not to panic before time but to decide as it happens, think on my feet."
Another resident, assistant brand manager Anya Vergeles, compared the situation to 2014, when Russia seized Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
"Nobody thought that this could happen to Crimea. Nobody could imagine that. I do not want to believe it, but we do not know what will happen next," she said.
Zelenskyy said in an interview published on Friday that an attack on Kharkiv was "feasible," though a spokesperson later said the president was laying out a hypothetical scenario.
"I will say realistically if Russia decides to enhance their escalation, of course they are going to do this on those territories where historically there are people who used to have family links to Russia," Zelenskyy had said.
"Kharkiv, which is under Ukraine government control, could be occupied. Russia needs a pretext: They will say that they are protecting the Russian-speaking population."
He said he believed this scenario was "feasible" following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
"It’s not going to be just an occupation; it’s going to be the beginning of a large-scale war," he said.
The top U.S. and Russian diplomats made no major breakthrough at talks on Ukraine on Friday but agreed to keep talking to try to resolve the crisis.
Sales manager Oleksiy Kormylets said he would not leave Kharkiv whatever happened.
"Run? No. No way! I was born here. I grew up here. I am staying no matter what. And if I have to join the city defense, I'll do it," he said.
IT programmer Anton Sergeev thought Russia may be just saber-rattling, and recalled an unsuccessful attempt by Russian-backed separatist forces to capture the city in 2014.
"They already were 'welcomed' here so they have learned it's better to stay away. Or they will go back home in zinc coffins. And their mothers will cry," he said.
Kharkiv, also known by its Russian name Kharkov, was established as a fortress town in the 17th century. It rapidly became one of the biggest cities in the southern parts of the Russian Empire. It was the capital of Ukraine from 1919 to 1933, when it was part of the Soviet Union.
The city lies upstream of the Donets River, which flows southeast to pass through the Donbas, a portmanteau word meaning "Donets Basin." Two major cities of the heavily-industrialized mining region, Donetsk and Luhansk, which lie some 250 kilometers to the southeast of Kharkiv, have been occupied by pro-Russian separatists since the 2014 Euromaidan protests and the ousting of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, a Kremlin ally,
Although Kharkiv also saw skirmishes between security forces and pro-Russian rioters, support for a Russian takeover remains low in the city. However, Kharkiv's strong connections with southwest Russia and Donbas, and its sizable Russian-speaking population make the city among primary targets in the event of a Russian invasion.
Adding to an estimated 100,000 troops deployed near Ukraine, Russia also has moved more troops from Siberia and the Far East for joint drills with its ally Belarus, which also borders Ukraine. In those exercises, Russian military units have moved to areas near Belarus’ southern border, which is about 75 kilometers from Kyiv.
Earlier this week, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a series of naval maneuvers in the Black Sea and more distant areas such as the Mediterranean, northeastern Atlantic and the Pacific. The exercises that will start this month and last through February would involve over 140 ships, dozens of aircraft and more than 10,000 personnel.