Tensions in Ukraine are escalating.
I’m visiting frontline positions around the coastal city of Mariupol in the east,
where war has raged since the Russian invasion of 2014.
My first stop is Shyrokyne, a wartorn former resort town on the edge of the Sea of Azov.
This used to be a rather beautiful tourist area.
The beach in front of me is heavily mined,
it’s not possible to swim.
It’s just a reminder of the cost of war here.
I mean, this place is, it’s a resort of ghosts.
A rather strange scene greets me at the military aerodrome outside Mariupol,
where troops are gathered to defend the city from a potential Russian attack.
So there’s a play going on at the moment for the troops here at the aerodrome in Mariupol.
The guy in the red is Putin, with a crown.
I don’t quite know who that is.
And the people with the flags are western powers threatening sanctions.
It’s a kind of modern parable of what’s going on here geopolitically,
being played out in a Soviet-built aerodrome on the frontline with Russia.
You had Putin wearing a red cloak.
Yes we had Putin. We had soldiers, Ukrainian. Separatists?
Separatists. So you had separatists there as well.
Yes we have [them] as well. And in our performance we kill Putin.
I saw. He was chased away by the devil, right? He kind of kicked him.
I play death, but I am a very good one because I kill Putin, and that’s why everyone likes me.
Ukraine’s depleted navy keeps watch over the sea, where the Russian fleet lies in wait.
Aboard the ageing command ship Donbas the crew are up front about their lack of naval strength.
Can you see Russian warships?
Despite the patriotism and defiance on display,
the Ukrainian army is outgunned and outnumbered should a Russian invasion occur.
But morale is high.
The soldiers are ready to fight.
There is no doubt Vladimir Putin’s forces would meet resistance, including from civilians.
Ukrainians say they are determined to defend their home.