Thousands of Brits are preparing to flee Ukraine amid fears Russia will invade within days, the Daily Mirror can reveal.
Many fear being stranded in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv if Russian tanks pour down from Belarus, imposing a brutal stranglehold on the city.
Most plan either to air evacuate but if the airport is blitzed they will drive west towards Poland to escape the fighting.
They have registered with the British embassy, which has sent half of its staff home, in case Moscow orders an attack.
As they stockpile food and fill cars with jerry cans full of petrol many Brits here face a race-against-time to escape.
But Ken Stewart, 54, originally from Edinburgh, faces a particularly nail-biting few days as his Ukrainian wife Tetiana, 36, is giving birth.
She is due soon and will recover in a private hospital near their three-bedroom rented home 35 miles outside Kyiv, which is in the firing line.
They live with their three-year-old daughter Yaryna in a small and quiet village called Bucha, north west of Kyiv, towards neighbouring Belarus.
If Russian tanks attack from Belarus - with as many as 80,000 Moscow and Belarus troops gathered there already Ken would flee with his family and new baby.
The IT executive and consultant, who moved to Ukraine 15 years ago and married a local woman, says: “Of course it is worrying as we are about to have our second child.
“The plan is to go to a private hospital nearby and we’ve gone private. My wife is booked in there already for a few days.
“But if Russian troops do come down from Belarus and encircle Kyiv, even though we live outside, we are right in the area where they will be.
“If they roll towards us and into my village it will of course make me very angry. I have my life here.
“Our plan is to head west if we can, where it will be much safer, with no checkpoints and that sort of thing,
“Yes, we have stocked up food but we have not gone over the top. There are jerry cans of petrol in the car so we have planned to leave if we have to.
“My wife is due to give birth very soon and I am monitoring the situation, constantly listening to the news, monitoring it on my phone.”
Ken took part in the 2014 Maidan protests and was even standing next to someone who was shot dead by suspected police undercover agents, the then feared Berkut.
He says: “I am very committed to Ukraine and was involved in Maidan when it happened as I was here during the revolution.
“Somebody was actually shot very nearby, yes I was there when people were killed.
“My view was that it was more about being independent from Russia than being more joined to Europe.”
It is believed there are up to 6,000 British ex-pats in Ukraine and many feel a strong pull of loyalty towards the country.
On Saturday several hundred will hold a march of support with other ex-pat groups in Kyiv to demonstrate their loyalty.
Peter Dickinson, 45, is originally from Amersham, in the UK but has lived in Kyiv for the past 20 years, building up a successful publishing firm of several magazine including English speaking Business Ukraine.
He also serves as Ukraine editor with the US think tank the Atlantic Council.
His wife Susanna, 39, is Ukrainian and they have two children Nina, 11 and 14 year-old Elizabeth.
He is constantly preparing for the worst and realises he may have to make tough decisions.
Peter says: “My life is here, my family , my business and my home so these are difficult choices.
“But the priority is the safety of my loved ones.
“We are talking about a potential armageddon and we just do not know what might happen.”
He has prepared by stocking up on food and fuel, even installing a new generator in case there is a supply cut during a Russian attack He says: “We have looked at what we would do if there is an attack and if it’s possible we would try to fly out.
“Otherwise if that were not possible we would head in the car west but it may not be possible to cross into the EU if there is a refugee crisis.
“We are also looking into heading for safety in the mountains.
“The idea of an invasion does seem extreme but we are prepared, with candles, torches, a generator and all of that.
“We are extremely lucky as we are slightly outside Kyiv and have our own water supply.
“Some people have already sent their kids outside their city for safety, to the in-laws, the grandparents who live in the countryside.
“We would have to make decisions about what to do about my wife’s family who also live nearby.
“My number one priority in all of this is my wife and kids but I also don’t want to disrupt their lives if I don’t have to.
“If our lives are in danger, however, of course we will have to run.
“Ukraine is undergoing an incredible test right now.
“Putin understands he is losing Ukraine and that he cannot reverse that trend. He knows this so maybe he feels he has to do something.”
Co-organiser of Saturday’s march Sean Kelly - a 53-year-old dad-of-two from Oxford who has lived in Kyiv for 26 years - said: “I’m disgusted by what Putin is doing to our friends in Ukraine and will do everything in my power to support them.
“He has painted himself into a corner to the point where everyone here is expecting an attack.”
Logistics firm boss Sean, who lived in Kyiv with Ukrainian-born wife Natalia and children Oliver, two, and Elizabeth, seven, added: “I will evacuate my family first by driving them to Odessa in the south then putting the on a ferry across the Black Sea to Turkey.
“Lots of other Brits are planning to take the shorter overland route west to Poland but I’m sure there will be chaos at that border if bombs start falling and flights out are stopped.
“But once my children are safe I’ll head back to support Ukrainians in whatever way I can.”
Edinburgh-born healthcare firm boss Stuart McKenzie, 51, is helping to organise the 300-strong flag procession through Kyiv on Saturday.
The dad-of-three was today honing plans to evacuate overland once the war starts and was preparing to pack bags and stock up on food and fuel.
But he also plans to stay in Ukraine as long as possible to support Ukraine’s war effort in any practical way he can.
Stuart - who is married to Ukrainian Lena, 49, and has children Victoria, 20, Robert, 14, and Stuart, 12 and his lived in Kyiv for 28 years - said: “Victoria is away studying in the US so she’s safe, but I’m getting anxious about getting Lena and the boys to safety.
“We’ve been asked to register with the British Embassy here in case an evacuation is ordered and there is clearly grave concern we’re heading for war.
“We’ve been living in the shadow of Russian aggression for years but this is different - we’re aware that Russian missiles and bombs could come flying into Kyiv at any moment.”
