Ukrainian community in Metro Vancouver anxiously watching as tensions escalate back home

Eugene Lupynis felt numb when news broke Monday that Russian troops had crossed into eastern Ukraine.

The Richmond, B.C., resident worries the growing military presence at the border signals an invasion is coming.

“I'd like to say it was a surprise,” Lupynis told CTV News. “(I’m) concerned of course, also feeling a bit lost with the idea that we are half a world away.”

Most of his family members still live in Ukraine, but on the other side of the country.

“After we heard of the incursions, they've said things on the streets in western Ukraine are relatively calm, because it is still far away from the fighting – but tensions are rising,” he said,

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree recognizing rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine as independent entities.

Lupynis fears that recognizing Luhansk and Donetsk as independent is part of a Russian justification for it to invade the country.

“It's evident to me that the invasion of not just eastern Ukraine, but a bigger swath of Ukraine is imminent. The rules and the agreements of the past have been thrown out the window,” he said.

Florian Gassner, a UBC associate professor of central and eastern European studies, agrees the Kremlin will likely try to secure more territory, but said a full-blown invasion of Ukraine would be challenging because of the country’s sheer size. He also noted that a majority of Ukranians have shown they would like to be part of the European Union.

“Occupying the entirety of Ukraine would be a very difficult and it would have to be a sustained effort. You can't conquer Ukraine and then just assume that all Ukrainians say, ‘OK, we're Russians now, we'll accept this,’” Gassner said.

He said Russia’s goal is to see Ukraine’s state fail because if it succeeds and joins the EU, Russians would wonder why they’re not part of the union as well.

“Everybody's waiting for tanks to move on to Kyiev, but the war is what we're seeing right now…economic power being taken away, small parts of territory being taken away until the Ukrainian state eventually becomes unsustainable,” he explained.

“The Russian state is set up in a way that it can only survive on hard power, and to be able to survive on hard power, you need to be able to assert yourself with impunity.”

Lupynis said he feels helpless being so far away from Ukraine, but he has not lost hope.

“We are praying for our brothers and sisters and for peace in our homeland,” he said.