Robert Sherman is a White House correspondent for NewsNation. He is reporting from Ukraine. Subscribe to his newsletter: Frontlines with Robert Sherman here.

(NewsNation) — A quick flip through my passport and short glance up at me. The border guard’s eyes met mine for hardly more than a moment.

Then.

Thump.

The sound of a stamp imprinting into the thin page serves as the wordless welcome back into Ukraine. The crossing from Poland was complete, and we were off.

Greetings from war-torn Ukraine, where I will be for the next few weeks. It’s my first time back here since the start of the war in 2022.

VIDEO: Back in Ukraine

Some things are eerily similar, others strikingly different.

For example, as we passed through Lutsk just over the border, sirens started to blare. I had just come from Israel during the so-called 12-Day War where Israelis were taking the risks quite seriously. Those 12 days, we ran into the bunkers countless times, joined by civilians holding their loved ones tightly as tears streamed down their cheeks, fearing the lethality of Iran’s capabilities.

Here in Lutsk? No such fear. The sirens didn’t stop the young couple we saw from taking photos outside the castle in town. Nobody ran for shelter. While alerts went off, they encompassed a wide region and the average Ukrainian there (in this case rightly) believed the threat wasn’t coming their way.

That’s different than the early days of the war. I remember being here when places like Lutsk, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk would be routinely targeted, especially sensitive........

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