Driving a faded blue taxi, Vojislav Miljkovic circles the north side of the bridge in Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo, looking for fares near the busy main square.
The radio blares Serbian ballads as he passes Serbian signs and advertisements. His car bears licence plates issued by the Serbian government.
Although Mr Miljkovic lives and works in Kosovo's divided city of Mitrovica, he may as well be living in Serbia.
Like many ethnic Serbs in the area, he doesn't recognise Kosovo as an independent country, instead seeing it as Serbian territory.
"I feel like a citizen of Serbia," he said one afternoon in his cab.
"It's as simple as that."
He is among approximately 50,000 ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo who still use license plates and documents issued by Serbian authorities — a practice considered illegal under Kosovan law.
Particularly in the north of Kosovo, the license plate issue has brought to the fore other tensions with Serbia, and in recent months has threatened to spill over into all-out fighting.
With Russia a traditional ally of Serbia, the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year has heightened fears of military conflict, said Kosovo-based analyst Donika Emini.
"Playing with fire is dangerous," she said.
"Since February 24, all we talked about was another war in Kosovo."
A tense and fragile peace
On the other side of the bridge in Mitrovica is where the city's ethnic Albanians live.
There, pastries and coffee are sold for euros and groups of teenagers giggle and chat in Albanian.
For years, Albanians, who make up more than 90 per cent of the country's population, and Serbs have lived separate lives in northern Kosovo, speaking different languages and praying to different gods.
Kosovo and Serbia have shared tense relations since the former's struggle for independence led to a bloody war in the 1990s that concluded with a permanent NATO presence established in the country.
"We did not get closure from the war," said Ms Emini, referring to the 1998 conflict that killed thousands on both sides.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008 — and has been recognised as an independent state by more than 100 countries — but Serbia still considers it part of its territory.
Tensions flared to their highest level in years last month when Kosovo proposed new rules requiring ethnic Serbs in the country's north to adopt Kosovan ID documents and car licence plates from August 1.
Serbia has a similar ID document rule for Kosovans visiting Serbia.
The proposed measures led to demonstrators barricading roads and gunfire near the border, as the two governments traded barbed rhetoric.
Amid protests on the streets and apparent pressure from the West, Prime Minister Albin Kurti postponed the new rules for a month to September 1.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," Ms Emini said.
"These tensions have been caused by IDs and car licence plates, but it's not about that.
"It's about the long-open dispute between Kosovo and Serbia, which hasn't been properly addressed."
For months, some Western nations have feared Russia could encourage Serbia into an armed intervention in northern Kosovo that would further destabilise the Balkans.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and another conflict on Europe's doorstep would almost certainly shift at least some world and NATO attention from Russia's war in Ukraine.
With the deadline for the implementation of the new laws looming, the nearly 4,000-strong NATO force stationed in Kosovo remains on alert for signs of escalation.
Could another conflict be brewing?
Known as KFOR, or Kosovo Force, the NATO soldiers are a common sight in the country, instantly recognisable by their blue and white arm patch.
Near a border checkpoint in the north one morning, a group of American NATO soldiers stood guard next to a highway overlooking a sweeping valley.
As cars passed, some motorists waved and honked, while others gestured crudely with their middle finger.
At the weekend, the European Union announced the two nations had reached a partial settlement, agreeing they would both scrap ID documents, but leaving the question of licence plates open.
"Citizens of our Republic may now travel to Serbia freely as equals," Mr Kurti tweeted.
But that by no means rules out the possibility of confrontation in the future between Kosovo and Serbia.
Just last year, Serbian fighter jets flew close to the Kosovo border, prompting the Kosovan government to deploy special police forces.
"Unless we have an agreement that is facilitated by the EU that closes all open issues between Kosovo and Serbia, Kosovo will not be able to flourish," Ms Emini said.
The two sides have committed to dialogue, sponsored by the EU, since 2013, but so far very little progress has been made.
Back in Mitrovica, graffiti reading "Go home NATO" is stencilled onto several walls and next to zebra crossings in the centre of the city.
Elsewhere, the large black letter "Z" is emblazoned in alleyways and on the sides of buildings, a nod to the logo adorning Russian military forces fighting in Ukraine.
