With pressure continuing to mount on the capital of Kyiv, the western city of Lviv is emerging as the fallback.
It's rapidly becoming a supply hub for weapons and supplies that the West has ferried into Ukraine and a safe haven for those coming from the east.
Now, in the space of a week life has been turned upside down in Lviv. Everyone now has a role in the war despite Russian troops not yet arriving in the city.
War has invaded the minds of all Ukrainians and helping is the only distraction. One group's focus is zeroed in making camouflage nets to be sent to the Ukrainian army.
Fabric is ferried from person to person, cut into strips and knotted by the hands of the wives whose husbands are fighting, by the hands of the young and the innocent and by the hands of the displaced who have fled Kyiv but refuse to flee the country completely.
"I don't want to leave my country and I want to live here, and I want a future here. That's all," one woman says.
She's not alone. And the proof came in a moment as the group began singing their national hymn - a growing ache for the men they have already lost and a rallying cry for the battle the rest are yet to face.
"It's horrible, we are deeply sorry for our young people, soldiers I mean," one says.
And they repeat a phrase - "Slava Ukraini", which means "glory to Ukraine" - in every conversation.
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The tourist town of Lviv has transformed into a backup capital - a safe place to receive people from the east and supplies from the West.
"Always you are thinking about war, you are thinking about future, you cannot just relax," one person says.
But even if for a second - you do forget - it would only be for a second. Because while troops are yet to arrive here they are constantly reminded that Russia is knocking at their door.
As sirens sound overhead, warning of an aerial attack, everyone stops what they're doing and takes shelter.
It's in the tight squeeze of a bunker that Newshub met Sofia.
"I am very nervous when such moments come. But I try to keep my feelings inside me," she said.
Others advertise their feelings proudly and without fear. When the war began, Yuri Zastavny traded a life of making beer for one making cocktails - of the Molotov variety.
He shows off a bottle with a naked Russian President Vladimir Putin on the front. It's called 'Putin the dickhead'.
"Ukraine is probably the only country in history where the Ministry of Internal Affairs published several recipes on this website," he says.
So far 2000 have been sent out already to local checkpoints - to be thrown at Russian vehicles when they approach.
Zastavny will make as many as it takes.
"There is no talk of leaving. You have to be here," he says.
They know those on the front line are relying on them.
Boxes of donated army provisions are destined for the cities worst hit.
A 14-year-old helping out wishes he was old enough to be among those forced to fight.
"I'm just very nervous, and I wanna do something. I can't sit," he says. "I would like to fight of course, but I can't because I am too small."
Every day the army sends a list here of what it needs most desperately. And at the moment, top of the list is ammunition. The Ukrainian forces just cannot get enough of it.
Maryna oversees the list - she knows just how much they need.
She's scared but determined. While she can not fight, she will help those who do.
"To make them strongest, to make them alive," she says.
Strong - and alive.
Slava Ukraini.
