Brave Ukrainian ladies were pictured armed to the teeth while training ahead of an imminent Russian attack.

On Monday, Russian invaders moved forward with their occupation plans as the Russian navy shelled the Ukrainian port city of Odesa for the first time.

Following the attack, the city was placed on high alert with defiant Ukrainian forces putting an end to Russian reconnaissance drones.

Amid fear that the city will soon face a full-scale Russian attack, brave civilians, including women, picked up arms and began preparing to repel the invaders.

In inspiring pictures, ladies with no knowledge of warfare are seen training with assault rifles to protect their homeland.

In other shots, scenes reminiscent of the events in Normandy in 1944 have emerged. In one particular photo, a Ukrainian soldier cladded in body armor is seen standing behind a barricade and pointing a firearm towards the beach and the open sea.

Speaking of the imminent attack on Odesa, 50-year-old local businessman Ruslan Popkov admitted feeling afraid but also joyful knowing that Ukraine’s ties with Russia will forever be severed because of the war.

“My dominant emotion is fear. Do the Russians intend to kill all 35million of us?” Popkov said. “Yet 10 per cent of me feels oddly joyful because the war will sever our ties with Russia once and for all.”

War preparations in Odesa come after the port city of Mariupol, which lies in the East of the country, came under heavy Russian firing and bombing in recent weeks.

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