Despite fears of a Russian invasion, one Ukrainian family tries to keep life normal

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/21/ [login to see] /ukraine-russia-invasion-fears
Artyom and Marina Kluchnikov have made do raising four children in a cramped, Soviet-style apartment in Ukraine's capital. They can provide their family with hearty dinners of chicken, cabbage and prunes. But now they're facing the prospect that their modest yet stable existence could suddenly be upended.

"We do not have like a suitcase with stuff already packed into it," says Artyom, 46. "But I have a checklist so that I would just be ready, you know, if something happens. And I make sure that my car has at least three-quarters of a tank full at any given point in time."

For more than seven years, there's been a conflict between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army along Ukraine's eastern border. But tensions have ratcheted up as Russian President Vladimir Putin has amassed 100,000 troops on the border.

On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Geneva, in an ongoing diplomatic effort to try to calm the tensions. The U.S. and its European allies have warned that sanctions will be severe and swift if Russian troops invade.