As all Ukrainians celebrated their Independence Day, 19-year-old student Yuliia Vyshnivska was warned of an increased threat of Russian attacks.
But that didn’t stop her from joining hundreds of others on an open roof for an open-air musical display of resistance in the heart of Kiev.
“I heard on the radio that the Americans were warning that the Russians would bomb you today, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, they want to kill us,’” she said, as the setting sun illuminated the patterns of her traditional outfit, the vyshyvanka.
“But we are used to it and know that we live in this dangerous situation, so we are not afraid.”
As a dozen orchestra musicians dressed in black played rousing versions of classic Ukrainian melodies, I mentioned one thing that is different from their last two days of independence at war: Ukraine has now invaded and taken over Russian territory.
“When we saw this news from Kursk, from the Russian region, it was a great event. It is like a miracle for us. We are so happy about it,” said Ms. Vyshnivska.
She said the fate now faced by Russians on the border, displaced and in danger, is a natural consequence of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine two and a half years ago.
“From that moment on we started hating them and now… we want to kill them. And that’s horrible. I understand that it’s not okay for people to say this, but we hate them and we can’t think differently because they want to kill us.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended a number of Independence Day events in the capital, delivered a pre-recorded speech from the Sumy region, just across the border from newly acquired Russian territory.
“Russia waged war against us. It violated not only sovereign borders, but also the limits of cruelty and sanity,” he told his people.
“It was endlessly seeking one thing: to destroy us. And what the enemy brought to our country has now returned to its home.”
Nearly three weeks after the invasion of Kursk, Ukraine quickly recaptured much of the Russian territory it had captured in the surprise operation.
An estimated 10,000 Ukrainian elite troops crossed the border on August 6, capturing more territory in a few days than Russia had gained in Ukraine so far this year.
Since the start of the operation, the BBC has been in contact with one of the Ukrainian fighters currently in Russia.
In his last messages to us, Serhiy – a pseudonym – revealed that the situation is more difficult now.
“Russia has become stronger. We see this in the number of attacks by drones, artillery and aircraft. Their sabotage and reconnaissance groups also began to operate,” he wrote.
According to him, this meant that the Ukrainians suffered more casualties.
“At the beginning of the operation we were on the rise. We had minimal losses. Now we are losing a lot of guys, because of the firepower of the Russians. Moreover, the Russians are fighting for their country here, just as we are fighting for ours.”
Serhiy says his earlier enthusiasm is starting to give way to skepticism.
“Many of us do not understand the meaning of this operation. It is one thing to fight for Kharkov and Zaporizhia. It is another for the Kursk region, which we do not need.”
President Zelensky had said that the Kursk operation was aimed, among other things, at capturing Russian soldiers. This led to a prisoner exchange and the release of 115 Ukrainians on Saturday. He had not disclosed other objectives that he could not disclose.
He also said the operation was a preemptive strike to deter Russian attacks on Sumy.
Despite the sense of justice and retribution that the invasion of Kursk brought, it remains a risky strategy for Kiev.
The quick gains must be weighed against losses in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is gaining ground in a fierce battle.
Moscow’s troops are approaching the city of Pokrovsk, home to some 60,000 people before the fighting.
It is the largest city in the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control and is a key hub for the defense forces.
“It’s a very difficult situation,” 23-year-old Nazar Voytenkov, a former TV journalist who now volunteers with the 33rd Mechanized Brigade defending Pokrovsk, told us over a crackling phone line.
I asked him if he knew that Russian troops were being deployed to defend their own territory.
“No, no, I don’t think so. I think the Russians have a large pool of troops in the Kursk region and elsewhere in Russia, and they are using them in this operation that the Ukrainian troops have started.”
I asked whether it had eased the pressure on Ukrainian troops in the area, a key hope for Kiev.
“I don’t feel like it’s gotten any easier. We still have enemies in all directions and last week they tried to approach again,” he explained.
“They used about 10 armored vehicles and infantry to take our positions, but we made a nice defense. We won this battle and now we are waiting for their next battle. So no, they are still there.”
This weekend’s festivities were undoubtedly bolstered by recent success on Russian soil, but Ukraine’s path to Independence Day next year remains unclear and shrouded in danger and uncertainty.
“This is just a monotonous, monotonous genocide,” Oleksandr Mykhed, one of Ukraine’s leading writers, calmly declared.
We met him in a vast exhibition building that used to house a museum about Lenin. He had just finished a talk about his new book, which explores how the country’s great classical writers would view the last Russian invasion.
There could hardly be a better place to symbolize Ukraine’s development since independence in 1991 and the country’s determination not to fall back into Moscow’s sphere of influence.
About the Russians, Mr. Mykhed said: “They want every missile attack to be called ‘another missile attack.’ They want the whole world to get used to it and make it routine, just. So that it becomes the ‘ordinary genocide.’”
I asked him what hopes Ukrainians could have for the next twelve months until their next Independence Day.
“This is time for a clear understanding of what true patriotism is. And we know what it is,” he said.
He argued that despite the mental and physical scars and deep collective grief, everyone had a duty to be strong and ensure the survival of Ukraine.
“You may be tired, everything may be depressing, but still you must save your country,” the Ukrainian author said.
Additional reporting by Kyla Herrmannsen, Anna Chornous and Anastasia Levchenko
