MARIUPOL, Ukraine – As President Vladimir Putin unveiled his peace plan for Ukraine on Sept. 3, three dozen men of varied ages started their studies in the military school in Mariupol in eastern Ukraine.

They

are the first batch of volunteers for a local self-defense battalion

that the city council called on the residents to form. Officially

subordinate to the Interior Ministry, they will be defending the city

from a Russian attack, which the residents have now been expecting

for nearly two weeks after thousands of Russian troops and tanks

entered Ukraine’s territory and took over the nearby city of

Novoazovsk.