Mariupol

The potential dangers are the same, whether in Mariupol or Melitopol, seized by Russia in the full-scale invasion in 2022, or in Crimea which was annexed eight years before.

"Most of those who stayed in Mariupol or returned, did so to help their elderly parents or their sick grandparents, or because of their flat," he tells me over the phone after midnight so no-one will overhear.

The biggest preoccupation in Mariupol is holding on to your home, as most of the property damaged in the Russian bombardment has been demolished, and the cost of living and unemployment has surged.

BBC journalist Olga Ivshina, who was on the ground in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region reporting about the earlier stages of the war, says there were reports of Ukraine retaking villages in 2016-19, a successful Ukrainian offensive outside Mariupol, and Ukrainian tanks were spotted too close to the frontline, where they should not have been under the ceasefire deals.

The atmosphere of fear and suspicion is such that when I was trying to contact residents of occupied Mariupol, I was accused of being a Russian journalist.