At the train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, attendants in smart, traditional uniforms help passengers down the steep carriage steps.
Despite Russia’s full-scale invasion, the trains here have never stopped running for the millions who rely on them.
We board and take a journey people are being urged to avoid – to the last stop before the eastern front line.
As we weave past the protruding feet that line the stuffy sleeper carriage, it becomes clear this isn’t just a route to the battlefield.
Yes, there are soldiers. Most look out of the window – you wonder what they’re thinking about.
But there are also young families on their way back home.
Viktoria is heading back to the town of Pokrovsk with her baby Eva. The 20-year-old tells us she’s had enough of avoiding the war, but isn’t without worries.
“I have to overcome them somehow,” she says. “It’s impossible to live like this, wandering everywhere. We have to make it work at home.”
Since February last year, Viktoria has travelled across Ukraine and Slovakia in an attempt to keep her and her daughter safe.
After three hours of weaving through the rich green of Ukraine’s countryside, we arrive in Pokrovsk and Viktoria is greeted by the husband she left behind.
“I’m overwhelmed,” says Serhiy, who was waiting patiently on the platform with a bunch of flowers.
“I’m very glad to see my beautiful daughter and wife. I just want us to sit, cuddle, chat and that’s it.”
Arrivals like this are part of a broader trend in Ukraine. After the devastating scenes of departure of last year, six million Ukrainians have since returned to their country.
Of those, thousands are moving back to their homes across the 600-mile (965km) front line, where the threat of a Russian attack remains.
Serhiy is one of many who stayed in Pokrovsk for his job at the local coal mine – an industry ingrained in the Donetsk region’s DNA, and a major employer here.