'Where can we go?' Fear and self-defence near Ukraine's eastern frontiers

Local resident Svetlana stands inside her house that was destroyed few years ago during a military conflict between militants of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Ukrainian armed forces in the village of Signalne in Donetsk region, Ukraine February 5, 2022. Picture taken February 5, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

DONETSK/KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) - Viktor, a pensioner, goes to sleep in breakaway eastern Ukraine, listening out for shelling in case he needs to take cover. In the city of Kharkiv, Viktoria Makarova, a building firm manager, is learning to fire a rifle in case of an invasion.

Far from the rarefied rounds of diplomacy aimed at easing soaring East-West tensions over a Russian military build-up, people in Ukraine are trying to get on with their daily lives. But they are also preparing for the worst.