Panicking Kyiv residents yearn for early ceasefire, return to peace

Oksana, a 40-year-old manager, who also only gave her first name, said she was hiding in an underground parking area following a siren on Day One, and has kept her bag at the door ever since.

"Like all people in my country, I am scared. I do not understand when and how this will end. It has been only one day of the war, but it seems to me that it has been a month. I hope that all of this can somehow be stopped," Oksana said.

In downtown Kyiv, the local bus system, subway, banks, supermarkets, pharmacies and hotels were still running normally. However, operations in private shops and bookstores had ground to a halt due to curfews and air raids.

Long lines snaked outside of gas stations, water stations, supermarkets and ATMs as people scrambled to withdraw money and stock up on supplies.

Anna, 37, who also only gave her first name, told Xinhua that sales in her cosmetics stores in Kyiv had dropped by 40 percent in the past month due to heightened tensions.

Not planning to leave the city because her children are still in school, she hoped that life could return to normal as soon as possible.