(NewsNation) — The people of the Ukrainian cities Lviv and Kyiv live in one nation, but lead dramatically different lives.

Life and death are mere moments apart in the national capital Kyiv, where bombs and missiles continued to fall on the city Wednesday. In Lviv, just seven hours to the west, life seems almost normal.

Ukrainian residents Svetlana and Artem have experienced the realities of both cities in the previous month.

“It’s really different because previously we lived Kyiv, so, like, we come here two weeks ago and the main reason (is) because it was really dangerous to stay in Kyiv,” Artem said.

Southern and eastern Ukrainian cities currently bear the brunt of the Russian advance. Supermarkets in Nova Kakhovka, which is currently occupied by Russian forces, have been cleared out with strangled supply chains and sky high demand for goods. Demand for goods is high as well in Lviv, a city that has received hundreds of thousands of refugees, but the supply chain is still rock solid.

One Lviv resident named Luba told NewsNation that life has been different in her city since Russia invaded, but that compartively speaking, she can’t complain.

“Yes, curfew and all those things make life inconvenient, but it’s small change compared to war,” Luba said. “The most important thing is people don’t die and people don’t bomb our cities. People need to return to their normal lives.”

The focus is on day-to-day life out east, where Ukrainians continue to fight for survival. To the west, people are looking at the big picture. Svetlana and Artem, for example, would like to return to Kyiv as soon as possible, but they don’t want the war to end at the cost of their independence.

They’re prepared to hold out for that.

“I believe that our nationality is really strong and our people have … big opportunities — so we need to win,” Svetlana said.