When war broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Oksana and her husband packed their belongings into a car and set course for the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Just weeks later, bloody fighting reached the streets of her hometown of Donetsk.
"We wouldn't have been able to leave then," said Oksana, who asked the ABC to only use her first name.
Now living in Kyiv, she is preparing for the possibility of further Russian invasion.
Russia has been amassing more than 120,000 troops on its border with Ukraine and moving military equipment into neighbouring Belarus, stoking fears of a full-scale war in the eastern European country.
This time, however, Oksana wants to stay and she hopes to be prepared for any situation.
While some civilians have volunteered for Ukraine's Territorial Defence Force, Oksana joined about 200 people in a lecture hall in Kyiv on Saturday to take part in a survival course for women organised by the Ukrainian Women's Guard in Kyiv.
Everyone was taught basic self-defence, how to pack an emergency bag and other skills that may be useful in the event of conflict.
The women learning survival skills amid Russia threat
The Ukrainian Women's Guard is just one of several groups that in recent weeks has been upskilling people amid the threat of a major Russian offensive.
Founded by lawyer Olena Biletska in 2014, the organisation has been providing military, self-defence and other training to women ever since.
It had been actively teaching civilian women until 2018, when demand for the courses died down.
When the threat of further Russian invasion ramped up last year, Biletska said requests for training started coming in again.
"Right now, there is a direct threat and people immediately showed initiative to take this course," she said.
Biletska said originally the plan was to run a lecture for around 50 people, but within a week of announcing the course about 1,000 women registered in Kyiv alone.
The interest from around the rest of the country had been even greater, with calls for the courses to be made available online.
Among the participants was Mariia Korytova, a 34-year-old journalist. Korytova said after the events of the past eight years, she wanted to be ready for anything.
"In 2013, it seemed no-one could die on the Maidan […] there couldn't be war," she said.
But the following year, Moscow had seized the Crimean peninsula and started fomenting unrest in the east of the country.
More than 14,000 people have died since the start of the war and millions today need humanitarian assistance.
"It seemed like madness and there was no need to prepare for something like that," Korytova said.
"Now, I understand that it's necessary to be prepared.
"I've never lived in a city with war and I want to understand what can happen.
"What kind of attacks there are […] how to recognise them, what to do to survive, how to escape the city."
Although life in Kyiv is peaceful, people here have suffered losses at the hands of Russia too.
Yana Vorotilova, a 35-year-old game designer from Crimea, knows this all too well.
"Crimea has been taken away from me, my family was taken away from me," she said.
"So for me it's more than realistic, it's the reality of my everyday life."
Vorotilova moved away from Crimea in 2007, years before it was occupied by Moscow.
Since Russia seized the peninsula, she said visiting had become more difficult, in part due to customs checks but also due the conflicting political views with her family.
"We didn't speak for some time because of active conflicts," she said.
All eyes on Putin's next move
For weeks now, Washington has been warning of an 'imminent' offensive against Ukraine.
Last month, a handful of countries — including the US, UK and Australia — announced they would withdraw family members of diplomats out of Ukraine.
But the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the move was "premature".
At a press conference for foreign media last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy played down the threat of a full-scale invasion.
"We do not see a bigger escalation that it has been before," he said.
"Yes the number of troops has gone up but I was talking about this in early 2021, that when there were drills of Russian federation, there was a big build-up […]
"I don't think the situation is more intense than it was at that time."
Plenty of Ukrainians believe a full-scale war is unlikely, including Olena Hrydina and her daughter Alona Usanova.
The pair were visiting Kyiv last weekend from the eastern city of Mariupol, where heavy fighting took place in 2014, and expressed their doubts about Russia's plans.
"I can't say I have a bag ready to go.
"But if they start firing again, it's possible I'd move somewhere because I have two children."
And while Kyiv remains calm, many say Russia's next move is unpredictable.
"The Russian army is one of the strongest in the world," said Anna Nemesh at a rally in Kyiv on Sunday, where Ukrainians gathered to show their thanks to countries that have provided military aid and other support.
"And we don't know what's in the head of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin."
