The scene in and around Kyiv looked eerily similar to the first day of the war, with highways clogged with thousands of people.
But despite warning from the city's mayor, and hours before the official announcement of the withdrawal of Russian troops, the traffic was inbound with eager Kyiv residents going home.
The mass return mirrored a bigger trend in Ukraine: 620,000 people returning to the country after the start of the conflict, according to the spokesman for the State Border Guard Service Andriy Demchenko.
Moreover, the Razumkov polling center reported that 79% of Ukrainians who fled abroad want to come back to Ukraine.
Most of the people who initially returned were men who wanted to join the military fight. Now, however, more and more women are coming back.
Nana Garsevanishvili of Kyiv fled to Germany a week into the war and is now planning a trip back to her hometown on Tuesday. Unlike many other refugees, she had German friends who could house her, she knew English, and had financial assistance.
The first two weeks were full of support and sympathy, but things started turning sour after three weeks. Locals would nag her about having more sympathy for Russians who escaped to Germany and Russians, despite stated good intentions, would disrespect her.
"When Russians think they're alone, they don't shy away from joking about Ukrainian refugees and demeaning them. I heard the word 'khokhol' being used in casual conversations," she said
"Khokhol" is a slur for Ukrainians.
Garsevanishvili tried to direct her energy toward volunteering, but ran into similar problems. Apart from coordinating volunteer support through social media for the remaining citizens of Kyiv, she tried working at volunteering centers in Berlin, yet ran into Russians who would "lecture" her on pacifism, political correctness and the fraternity of the two warring nations.
"When you disagree with them you end up getting yelled at, threatened and insulted anyway," she said.
A pro-Russian, 400-car-strong motorcade in Berlin on Monday was the final indignation. According to the organizers, the intention was to draw attention to the growing hostility toward Russians in Europe.
Yet, there was a strong presence of pro-war sentiment, including the notorious "Z" symbol that has become a sign of Russian endorsement of the war.
Her plans to go back to Kyiv are well under way. She will assist local volunteers with dropping off supplies for vulnerable citizens and is thinking about the very dangerous job of assisting international journalists who travel around Kyiv.
Garsevanishvili's friend, Oleksandra Kuvshynova, died while assisting Pierre Zakrzewski, a Fox News cameraman in Gorenka, a settlement near Kyiv.
"I don't fear death. You come to realize that if you don't listen to your heart, which tells you to go back home, you'll never really live, you'll just exist. I want to be home, in my city," Garsevanishvili said.
The decision to return would have seemed reckless just a week ago. However, life has begun to resemble pre-war normality for major northern and western Ukrainian cities.
Lviv, a city in western Ukraine 100 miles from the Polish border, is packed with diplomats, international journalists and internal refugees. Its restaurants and cafes are open, civilians and armed men mosey about to the sound of live music. Apart from the air raid sirens that have blended into the city's ambience, life seems almost regular.
In Kyiv, things have picked up seemingly overnight. One of the main bridges that connects the east and west river banks of the city was opened for the first time since Feb. 24 and public transportation began coursing through the metropolis to meet the growing demand. Mykola Povoroznyk, the advisor to the head of Kyiv's City Council, reports that businesses are reopening too.
"The city is slowly coming back to life. Business, organizations and public services are opening up and people are going back to work," he wrote.
Daria Gorkavaya left Ukraine a week before the start of the war and traveled Europe for weeks, eventually deciding to return to Ukraine. Like Garsevanishvili, she lived in Germany after fleeing but quickly became disillusioned with the local population and her own role in the war.
"There's a strong feeling of dissonance," she said. "Your realities don't match up. Your home is on fire, your phone is bursting with violence, and you just want to cry. Yet, the people around you are enjoying themselves, as if nothing is going on. That's why everyone wants to go back."
Gorkavaya recalls the train journey from Poland to Lviv. The car was packed with Ukrainians, some of them going to regions still considered extremely dangerous.
Unlike in Lviv, she said, the citizens of Kyiv that stayed to assist the war effort are in dire need of boots on the ground.
"There's enough work for everyone," Gorkavaya said. "You can be a fixer for international journalists, you can help pack and deliver humanitarian help, you can cook food and deliver it, you can look for medicine and get it to the ones in need."
Not everyone in Kyiv, especially the battered surrounding settlements, is so optimistic.
Kate Slizovskaya, who lives in Kyiv, is planning to leave for Lviv and then Germany.
Slizovskaya, her boyfriend and his mother escaped the capital to a small settlement just outside Kyiv as soon as the war began. However, within days, the settlement was overrun by Russian soldiers who made the village their temporary base. At one point, Slizovskaya was detained and questioned by Russian soldiers because the house she was staying in had a hunting rifle and Ukrainian insignia.
Her settlement was spared the mass civilian murders and rapes that neighboring towns, like Bucha, reportedly suffered. When the village was liberated, she immediately left for Kyiv. On her way out of the village, she saw countless bodies being dumped into a mass grave. These were bodies of soldiers who the Russian army never bothered picking up, she said.
"The smell was awful. Good thing it wasn't hot outside," she said.
After fearing for her and her loved ones' lives on a daily basis, Kate is exhausted, but ready to start a new chapter abroad. Once in Germany, she wants to sign up for language classes, find a job and try to start a life in Berlin.
She's not sure if she ever wants to go back home. However, it seems like she's in the minority.
"It's not for everyone," Gorkavaya commented when asked about the dangers of war-time life
"Every time the sirens go off, I feel scared but, at the same time, I feel truly Ukrainian. I feel home."
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