Thunder and lightning is a quiet storm song

It's bizarre to scroll through my Facebook feed to see life going on back home, unaffected by all of this. The town of Novoazovsk, only about 20 miles east of Mariupol, is firmly under separatist control, and most news outlets and their analysts anticipate a full-on attack on Mariupol could happen any day. Another story said Ukrainian fighter jets were bombing separatist positions. The Ukrainian military said Ukrainian positions were under fire from artillery shot from within Russian territory. NATO had released a statement earlier, announcing that as many as 5,000 regular Russian soldiers had crossed the border. The ongoing Russian-backed invasion of southeastern Ukraine is just miles from here, although you'd hardly know it. But the calm and the peace seem so finite and precious with the knowledge of what is to come.ДЄs I sip my second beer of the evening (what else is there to do under the circumstances?), I scan the news online for updates. The weather portends nothing of the tempest just over the horizon. Often the days leading up to a hurricane are beautiful and clear, with a slight, steady breeze-just like tonight in Mariupol. It all reminds me of my childhood in Florida, and my memories of when a hurricane was on the horizon. A steady sea breeze rocks the trees along the coast, and the lights of different towns along the shore twinkle in the clear air, just like the stars in the dark sky above. So tonight I'm sitting at a beachside cafГ© on the Sea of Azov, listening to awful American cover songs on the radio, planning my escape if things spiral out of control. This is all amid the backdrop of Ukrainian troops digging in on the outskirts of town for what looks to be a tough fight against the pro-Russian separatist army, which may include as many as 5,000 regular Russian troops, according to NATO. Grizzled veterans of covering wars from Iraq and Afghanistan, to Sudan, Congo and Georgia are swapping stories and sharing info about the situation here. The place is swarming with journalists from around the world-the BBC, CNN, The New York Times. The hotel I'm at, the Poseidon, offers the clearest sign of what may be about to happen. Children were in school, and rail and aviation routes are still open. People were at the beach today, enjoying the late summer sun. Mariupol, Tuesday, September 2, 2014Дespite the fact that the separatists are only 20 to 30 kilometers outside the city, life here seems unaffected.

Following are some of my journal entries from that time.

Heavy weapons banned by the Minsk II cease-fire still are used every day, and soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict still are dying.ДЄs the Daily Signal's foreign correspondent, I was in Mariupol in the days leading up to the first cease-fire in September 2014.

Today, the war remains locked in a static trench warfare stalemate.ДЄbout 10,000 Ukrainians have died because of the conflict, and more than 1 million have been displaced. These areas included the outskirts of the southern port city of Mariupol, where Ukrainian and combined Russian-separatist forces were engaged in a tank and heavy artillery battle.Д«ut the cease-fire collapsed the day after its signing, and a second cease-fire, called Minsk II, went into effect in February 2015. For a brief moment, the guns fell silent along the front lines in Ukraine's embattled southeastern Donbas region. Just over two years ago, on September 5, 2014, the Ukraine war's first cease-fire went into effect. This article first appeared on The Daily Signal.

Thunder and lightning is a quiet storm song