“All our friends are back in town,” he said as he waited in line at the Krakovets crossing on the Polish-Ukrainian border. As a man of military age, Sydorenko will not be allowed to leave the country again, but he was not intimidated. “I have never felt as Ukrainian as I do now,” he said. “It’s like an internal fire that leads you. “I have seen the world and nothing is better than Kyiv at the moment.” With few cars in line, Anna was nearing the end of a marathon trip that had led her and her two children to Portugal, more than 3,000 kilometers away, after escaping the fighting on March 1. “We want to go home,” he said. “It is difficult to be abroad when there is a war in your homeland. We felt we had to go back. We do not know for how long. “We may have to leave again.” The Ukrainians have returned en masse since Russia withdrew its forces from the capital in late March and refocused its attack on the eastern Donbass region and parts of the south. Of the 5 million Ukrainians who fled Ukraine after the full invasion of Moscow began on February 24, more than 1 million have returned, according to Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister. A couple walks in the National Botanic Garden in Kyiv on April 28 © Oleg Petrasyuk / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock The refugee crisis is far from over. While many Ukrainians are returning from exile in the west of the country or from the border to the EU, millions more are fleeing fighting in Donbas. However, many Kiev residents believe the capital is safe enough to live in again, although Mayor Vitali Klitschko has urged them to stay away for a while longer, warning of the continuing dangers of war and limited public services. A chronic shortage of fuel, after Russian forces destroyed one of Ukraine’s main oil refineries, could also complicate return trips. In a reminder of the constant danger, two Russian missiles hit a northern neighborhood of Kiev on Thursday night, setting fire to an apartment building. It was the first rocket attack on the capital in two weeks. In the downtown Podil district, hundreds of people enjoying springtime walks on deserted streets just a few weeks earlier, when Kyiv was threatened with occupation. Cafes, restaurants and barbershops have reopened, but many other retailers and offices have not reopened and traffic is light, creating a Sunday-style atmosphere. “It’s like a weekend. . . “I do not feel it’s working,” said Bohdan Makeyenko, snacking on a hot dog with his girlfriend. They recently returned to Kyiv from western Ukraine. “I can work remotely, I did not lose my job in logistics,” said the 24-year-old. His partner, Maria Yakovenko, was not so lucky. “I used to work in manicure, but there is no demand for it now and I basically have no money now,” she said, adding that the rest of her family remained in the west. On the corner, Vyacheslav, manager of the Naprosecco oyster bar, was instructing an employee on how to adjust the lighting outside the venue to attract more customers. “We decided to reopen a week ago when about 50 percent of our 40 or so employees returned. . . “The rest are waiting as the mayor of Kiev says it could still be dangerous,” Vyacheslav said. “But things are going well, as many people are returning to Kyiv,” he added. Brian Best, chief executive of the Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital, said most of his employees who left for the western city of Lviv in February had not yet returned. Many, he said, were waiting for May 9 – which, as Victory Day marking the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union, is of particular importance to Russia. They wanted to see if President Vladimir Putin could escalate his attack to that point or declare victory and reduce it. “For some reason, May 9 is a magical day. “I do not agree, but if colleagues take solace in this, it’s okay.” Dragon Capital, a major real estate investor, has 11 warehouses throughout Ukraine. Three of them around Kyiv were destroyed by Russian bombs in the early stages of the invasion. There were still fears that Russian forces could attack the capital again. “People are still not 100 percent sure that Kyiv and the overthrow of the regime here are off the list,” Best said.

Andy Hunter, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, said from his temporary residence in London that many top executives of member companies had plans to return to Kyiv in the coming weeks. However, the uncertainty about whether the schools would reopen meant that others, especially women executives, stayed abroad. The leaders of the expatriates were waiting for the reopening of the US embassy in the capital, he added. It currently operates only limited services in Lviv. “With air raid sirens still ringing across the country, companies are reluctant to open due to risks to the safety of customers and staff, and must lower their shutters every time a bomb alert is sounded,” Hunter added. While waiting at the Polish border, Sydorenko was optimistic about the dangers of returning to the Ukrainian capital. “It’s somewhat predictable now,” he said. “There [are] there are still some chances of air raids in Kyiv. “But we are ready to seize this opportunity.”