Ukraine's eastern port of Mariupol is bracing for attack.

Army vehicles rumble down streets, windows are fortified to shield against shell damage and signs pasted to apartment blocks point people to their nearest bomb shelter. Locals fear pro-Russian separatists will unleash an assault on their city now that President Vladimir Putin has finished hosting world leaders to mark the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany.

"Everyone's talking about it," said Iryna Hrynko, 40, a designer who arrived last year after fleeing the rebels' Donetsk stronghold. "Friends back home even tell me about an attack."