Svitlana Rudokvas once took solace in the fact that fighting between the Ukrainian army and Russian forces was raging at a safe distance in the eastern Donetsk region neighbouring her own.

But now, the Kremlin's emboldened army has advanced and brought the fight right to the doorstep of her Dnipropetrovsk region, while raining down bombs with greater intensity.

"Some people still have this idea of a psychological border, they think that Russians won't cross," the 51-year-old shop keeper told AFP.

"We thought so too -- before gliding bombs hit us," she added in the village of Novopavlivka, one settlement in Russia's sights just over the border in the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region.

In the three years since Russia invaded, its forces have never broken through into the industrial region.

But emboldened by months of gradual gains, they are now just some four kilometres (2.5 miles) from its border and stepping up bombardments.

The restaurant........

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