Nervous calm in Ukrainian front-line village as war looms

In the village of Zolote in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Olga Berezhna cradles one of the rabbits she raises, feeds her chickens and receives an eager greeting from her shaggy dog when she walks into her yard. But this is not placid rural life – it is a grinding wait to find out if there will be war.

At 59, Berezhna is the youngest of the 16 people left in the village. The others are mostly in their 80s; all the younger people are long gone from this village near territory occupied by Russia-backed rebels.

Those still in the area – soldiers on duty in snowy trenches and sandbag-lined positions – look far older than their years.

Ukrainian forces and separatist rebels began fighting in 2014, a war that has killed more than 14,000 people. Although the fighting has diminished significantly in recent years, fears are strong that it could resume and become even bloodier since Russia began massing troops near Ukraine’s border.

Russia says it has no intention of invading, but many in the West believe that an offensive is imminent.

The next clue about what happens next is likely to come when Russian President Vladimir Putin decides how to respond to the rejection by the United States and NATO of Moscow’s demand that Ukraine be permanently denied membership in the military alliance.

In the meantime, Berezhna and the soldiers wait.