Hello, I'm James Reynolds on the BBC World Service and this is BBC OS Conversations Ukraine.

The world has watched Russia's military invasion of neighbouring Ukraine and we've been hearing

the experiences of those who are living through it, from the historian prepared to fight

for the future of his family and his country to the Baker with staff to reassure and those

who remained at home whilst preparing for war.

In the morning we went to the supermarket and bought extra food and we have to alarm

backpacks with our documents, some food, clothes.

There had been many warnings and attempts to talk and defuse the tension but ultimately

it became clear that diplomacy wasn't changing the course of President Putin's plans and

so it was that Ukrainians were awoken in their beds by the sound of explosions as the

Russian attack began.

On this edition we want to share the stories of ordinary Ukrainians that we've been hearing

over recent days so let's start before the invasion and play you a couple of the messages

we received.

They offer an insight into a state of mind after months of intimidation with Russian troops

amassed at the border and the increasing likelihood of war.

Hello my name is Anastasia I'm from Kiev.

We don't know anything about our future, about our tomorrow.

We are scared, we are frightened, we don't know what to do about our work, what to do with

our families to stay in Kiev or to go away.

We don't know where should we go.

We are desperate of course because of absolutely unexpected situation and this situation is

...