People in the Ukrainian town of Ovruch, a scant 15 kilometres from the border with Belarus, know that should the current crisis with Russia metastasize into a full-on military conflict, their community could be the first that invaders come to.
“Teachers remind us that if there [is] an offensive from the Russian Federation or Belarus, we shouldn’t panic,” said Ivan Trostenyuk, a 14-year-old eighth grader at local School Number Three, in a recent interview with CBC News while on his way home.
“Our [Ukrainian] soldiers will help us.”
While Ovruch only has a population of 15,000, it is 200 km — or roughly a two-and-half-hour drive — north of the capital,
