On the outskirts of a picturesque city in western Ukraine known for its rich history and culture, a handful of men have just finished blocking the road with heavy machinery and metal barricades.

On other main roads, volunteers lay down sandbags.  

Downtown, workers cover windows of the Museum of Ethnography and Historic Artifacts with protective metal sheeting, and young volunteers make molotov cocktails. They call them "Lviv smoothies."

Lviv — a tourist hub about 80 kilometres from Ukraine's border with Poland — has not yet been a heavy target of Russia's invasion. This, and its proximity to the border, has made the city a refuge for displaced Ukrainians as Russia escalates its attacks on other major urban areas, including the capital, Kyiv, as well as the strategic port cities of Odesa and Mariupol in the south. 

But as Russia's threat continued to intensify, a resistance in Lviv largely powered by civilians has gathered force.

"I am not scared. We are not afraid. We are Ukrainians," said Volodya Mykha from a road outside Lviv.

"We are proud to defend out territory. We are not willing to run.

"We are not attacking. We are defending. That's all"

War's death toll not clear

The overall death toll from the seven-day-old war is not clear. 

On Wednesday, in Kharkiv alone, at least 21 people were killed and 112 injured over the past day, said Oleg Sinehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration. A Russian strike hit the regional police and intelligence headquarters in Ukraine's second-largest city of about 1.5 million people.

The attack came a day after one in Kharkiv's central square that killed at least six people.

The UN refugee agency said late Wednesday that one million people have now fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion last week, the swiftest exodus of refugees this century.

Blockposts, supplies

The military is assisting locals who are building roadblocks, called "blockposts." They help co-ordinate and give information on where and how to build them, focusing on offshoots from the main roads into the city.

The police also send people manning the roadblocks lists of suspect cars and driver's licence plate numbers.

 

In an old factory bomb shelter, local youth volunteer their time to organize donated water, food, clothing and other supplies to be shipped to hard-hit Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Real estate lawyer Oleg Boianivsky, 28, has been organizing the group, which, he says, has been hard at work for three days, making hundreds of calls, organizing supplies, and driving cars and trucks across Ukraine.

"We will sleep when it's ended," he said.

"We are trying to help our people across the country. We asked our friends in Poland to help us. They [brought] us some medicine, food and everything we need."

When asked if he thought war would come to Lviv, Boianivsky said, "War is here. It is everywhere."

Molotov cocktails, or 'Lviv smoothies'

At a roadblock in Lviv there is a collection of empty bottles, presumably ready to be made into molotov cocktails.

Young volunteers have been making the home-made weapons out of donated and recycled beer and alcohol bottles, calling them "Lviv smoothies," or "Bandera Smoothies," named after a well-known Ukrainian ultra-nationalist.

'You have to put your energy somewhere'

Back at the blockpost, Ivan Kashey, who works in IT, says he and the other men volunteering here are self-organized.

"It was too hard to watch the news every day non-stop. So we tried to do something. We are patrolling the place," he said.

He's concerned that Russia's invasion of Ukraine could lead to "Soviet Union, 2.0," he said.

"From west to east, everybody's trying to make sure that this won't happen," Kashey said.

He said the overall mood in Lviv is "positive," residents are well protected, and he doesn't think the city itself is in danger. 

But still, Kashey said, they will continue to build barricades, patrol and protect.

"You have to put your energy somewhere, right? So ... put it into barricades," he said.

"I think we're going to want to win this war, right? There's not many options."