Ten hours after a military conflict in the middle of Europe has become much more likely, Natalie Görgner is standing at Frankfurt Central Station and is convinced that "there will be no war".

Shortly after sunrise, the 68-year-old, equipped with suitcases and bags, waits on the south side of the main train station for the scheduled departure of the Euro Club bus that is supposed to take her to Kiev.

If you still want to travel to the Ukrainian capital, you have to take on a lot: "Lufthansa no longer flies," says Görgner with a Ukrainian accent.

However, coaches are still running: the journey to Ukraine takes 29 hours and 10 minutes.

Görgner, who grew up in Mariupol, a city near Donetsk, wants to visit her two sons and grandchildren there.

She is certain: “Russia and Ukraine: That means friendship.

Putin doesn't make war, Putin is a smart man and the EU has great respect for him," she said in the morning after the Russian President announced the night before that he would recognize the separatist regions in Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states and send military forces there .

Putin calls them "peacekeepers".

Western observers see this as a big step in the direction of further escalation: But Görgner, who has lived in Germany for 22 years, prefers to believe the Russian propaganda: it speaks of the United States as an aggressor and of

Practical questions need to be clarified

Stepan Rudzinskyy can well understand that people are going to Ukraine right now.

"If I were single, I would do it too, but having a family is irresponsible," says the chairman of the Ukrainian association in Frankfurt.

"We have to think about what to do when it happens," he says.

Where do you go in case of an attack?

How do you get food?

How can you ensure your own safety?

All practical questions that Rudzinskyy urgently wants to clarify with his parents living in Ukraine.

The Ukrainians are currently dealing with these questions.

But many Frankfurters are also concerned about the events.

On Tuesday evening, parties and organizations called for a vigil in front of the Paulskirche to show solidarity with Ukraine.

An elderly Ukrainian couple also boarded the bus at the main train station on Tuesday morning.

At the door, the woman turns around again and crosses her middle and index fingers: "Putin bad, very bad," she calls out.

Then the doors of the bus close.

When they reopen in Kiev on Wednesday afternoon, the world could look very different.