Life in Ukraine on the edge amid war fears

Ordinary Ukrainian civilians take part in military drills to prepare for possible war, handling automatic rifles or advancing in formation as the country lives under the threat of a feared Russian invasion.

Families hold tearful goodbyes in separatist-held eastern Ukraine, as women and children wave from trains and buses bound for Russia.

Soldiers on the tense front line take pensive smoke breaks, steal a moment to dance playfully, or take up fighting positions, their eyes haunted.

Elsewhere, some of life’s normalcy goes on. A destitute woman begs for alms on an Odesa street, and a bride and groom celebrate their union on the Black Sea shore.

A Ukrainian serviceman is reflected in a mirror as he smokes a cigarette on a position at the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory near Zolote, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Civilians train with members of the Georgian Legion, a paramilitary unit formed mainly by ethnic Georgian volunteers to fight against Russian forces in Ukraine in 2014, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A young woman handles a weapon during a basic combat training for civilians, organized by the Special Forces Unit Azov, of Ukraine's National Guard, in Mariupol, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A Ukrainian service member listens to artillery shots standing in a trench on a position at the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory near Zolote, Ukraine, late Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

An instructor, second left, runs during a training for civilians and members of the Georgian Legion, a paramilitary unit formed mainly by ethnic Georgian volunteers to fight against Russian forces in Ukraine in 2014, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A bullet riddled effigy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is coated by fresh snow at a frontline position in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

An elderly woman walks by as members of the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination on ceasefire of the demarcation line, or JCCC, survey a crater and damage to a house from artillery shell that landed in Vrubivka, one of the at least eight that hit the village, according to local officials, in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

The gray area is visible through the periscope on a Ukrainian Army position at the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory near Zolote, Ukraine, late Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Tanks move during the Union Courage-2022 Russia-Belarus military drills at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in Belarus, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr)

A Ukrainian serviceman fires an NLAW anti-tank weapon during an exercise in the Joint Forces Operation, in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A Ukrainian serviceman walks along a trench on a position at the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory near Zolote, Ukraine, late Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian servicemen stand by a destroyed house near the frontline village of Krymske, Luhansk region, in eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Ukrainian servicemen with the 34th Battalion dance to a performance by Larisa Borisenko, near the frontline village of Krymske, Luhansk region, in eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A cross in memory of a Ukrainian soldier is placed in a field near the place he was killed on in 2018, at a front line position outside Popasna, Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Members of the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army clean weaponry ahead of deployment to Poland from Fort Bragg, N.C. on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. They are among soldiers the Department of Defense is sending in a demonstration of American commitment to NATO allies worried at the prospect of Russia invading Ukraine. (AP Photo/Nathan Posner)

Ukrainian Army soldiers pose for a photo as they gather to celebrate a Day of Unity in Odessa, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Women wait at a bus stop in Odessa, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People sit inside a bus waiting to be evacuates to Russia amid crisis in Donetsk, the territory controlled by pro-Russian militants, eastern Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)

Newlyweds Alexandra Tabashnenko, 27 and Pavel Tabashnenko, 33 walk on a promenade after getting married in Odessa, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A woman looks out of the window of a balcony in Sievierodonetsk, in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

People from Donetsk, the territory controlled by a pro-Russia separatist government in eastern Ukraine, gather to fill in documents after evacuating in the Rostov-on-Don region, near the border with Ukraine, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)

Ukrainian police officers march past a woman begging for alms during a demonstration in Odessa, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Text from AP News story, AP PHOTOS: Life in Ukraine on the edge amid war fears

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