Like all other Ukrainians, 19-year-old student Yuliia Vyshnivska was celebrating her Independence Day when she was warned of an increased risk of Russian attacks.
However, this did not stop her and hundreds of others from climbing to a freestanding roof in the heart of Kyiv to perform an open-air musical demonstration of defiance.
“I heard on the radio that the Americans were warning that the Russians were going to bomb you today, and I just thought, ‘Oh my God, they want to kill us,'” she said as the setting sun illuminated the patterns of her traditional robe, 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 black-clad orchestra musicians played rousing versions of classical Ukrainian tunes, I mentioned a difference from Ukraine’s two warlike independence days: Ukraine has now invaded and occupied Russian territory.
“When we heard this news from Kursk, from the Russian region, it was an incredible event. For us it is like a miracle. We are so happy about it,” said Ms Vyshnivska.
She said the fate of Russians at the border, displaced and in danger today, was a natural consequence of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine two and a half years ago.
“From that moment on, we started to hate them, and now… we want to kill them. And that’s terrible. I understand that it’s not okay for people to say something like that, but we hate them and we can’t think otherwise because they want to kill us.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended several Independence Day events in the capital, delivered a recorded speech from the Sumy region – just across the border from the newly acquired Russian territory.
“Russia has waged war against us. It has violated not only its sovereign borders, but also the limits of cruelty and common sense,” he told his people.
“He was constantly striving for a single goal: to destroy us. And what the enemy brought to our country has now returned to its homeland.”
Almost three weeks after the invasion of Kursk, Ukraine had regained control of large parts of the Russian territories it had conquered during the surprise operation.
On August 6, an estimated 10,000 Ukrainian elite soldiers crossed the border. gain more ground within a few days than Russia has won in Ukraine so far this year.
Since the operation began, 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 has become more difficult.
“Russia has become stronger. We can see this in the number of attacks by drones, artillery and aircraft. Their sabotage and reconnaissance groups also began to operate,” he wrote.
All this means that the Ukrainians have suffered further losses, he said.
“At the beginning of the operation, we were on the advance. We had minimal losses. Now we are losing a lot of people because of the Russians’ firepower. Moreover, the Russians are fighting for their country here, just as we are fighting for ours.”
Serhiy says his initial enthusiasm has given way to a certain skepticism.
“Many of us do not understand the meaning of this operation. It is one thing to fight for Kharkiv and Zaporizhia. It is another thing to fight for the Kursk region, which we do not need.”
President Selenskyj had stated that Operation Kursk was aimed at capturing Russian soldiers. There was a prisoner exchange and the release of 115 Ukrainians on Saturday – among other targets that he could not reveal.
He also stated that the operation was a preemptive strike to deter Russian attacks on Sumy.
Although the Kursk invasion brought with it a sense of justice and retribution, it remains a risky strategy for Kiev.
The rapid successes are offset by losses in eastern Ukraine, where Russia continues to gain ground in a bitter struggle.
Moscow’s troops are approaching the town of Pokrovsk, which was home to around 60,000 people before the fighting.
It is one of the largest cities in the Donetsk region, which is still under Ukrainian control, and an important hub for the defense forces.
“It’s a really difficult situation,” 23-year-old Nazar Voytenkov, a former TV journalist who now works as a volunteer 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 withdrawn to defend their own soil.
“No, no, I don’t think so. I think the Russians have large troop reserves in the Kursk region and elsewhere in Russia, and they are using them in this operation that the Ukrainian forces have started.”
I asked whether this had reduced the pressure on Ukrainian troops in the region – a key hope for Kyiv.
“I don’t feel like it has gotten any easier. We still have enemies in all directions and just last week they tried to approach us again,” he explained.
“They used about 10 armored vehicles and infantry to take our positions, but we defended them well. We won that battle and are now waiting for their next fight. So no, they are still here.”
The recent success on Russian soil has undoubtedly given new impetus to this weekend’s celebrations, but Ukraine’s path to Independence Day next year is no clearer and remains fraught with danger and uncertainty.
“This is just a monotonous, monotonous genocide,” Oleksandr Mykhed, one of Ukraine’s leading writers, explained calmly.
We met him in a huge exhibition building that used to house a Lenin museum. He had just finished a talk about his new book, which examines how the country’s great classical writers viewed the recent Russian invasion.
It would be difficult to find a better place to symbolise Ukraine’s development since its independence in 1991 and its determination not to be drawn back into Moscow’s sphere of influence.
About the Russians, Mykhed said: “They want every single missile attack to be called ‘another missile attack.’ They want the whole world to get used to it and make it routine, everyday. So that it would be ‘ordinary genocide.'”
I asked him what hope Ukrainians could cling to as they endured the next twelve months until their next Independence Day.
“Now is the time to clearly understand what true patriotism is. And we know what it looks like,” he said.
His argument was that despite the mental and physical scars and the deep collective grief, it was everyone’s duty to be strong and ensure Ukraine’s survival.
“Surely you are tired, everything is depressing, but still you have to save your country,” said the Ukrainian author.
Additional reporting by Kyla Herrmannsen, Hanna Chornous and Anastasia Levchenko
