Ukrainian parents brace their children for a Russian invasion, sending them to school with stickers identifying their blood type

• Ukrainian parents are taking measures to keep their children safe amid fears of a Russian invasion.

• This includes sending them to school with their blood types visible on stickers.

As tensions between Ukraine and Russia increase and a Russian "invasion" looms, Ukrainian parents are grappling with the dangers by sending their children to school with stickers showing their blood types, according to TODAY.

In a Monday speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally acknowledged two of Ukraine's separatist regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, as independent states. He then ordered troops into the eastern Ukraine territories for "peacekeeping."

Ukrainian journalist Olga Tokariuk tweeted Monday that Putin's speech was a "declaration of war" that has inspired Ukrainian parents to take additional precautions, with some now sending their kids to school better prepared if they require a blood transfusion.

The conversation began on Facebook, Tokariuk tweeted.

—Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) February 21, 2022

"This was a debate in one of (many) closed groups on Facebook," Tokariuk told TODAY. "Some schools actually made these stickers mandatory."

The schools have also implemented drills in case of an emergency — similar to the ones in the US in preparation for mass shootings, a parent told TODAY.

"Ukrainians, we are living in our homeland. It's our motherland. We are not going to just leave because some crazy dictator is trying to revive the corpse of the Soviet Russian empire," a parent told TODAY. "Hearing Putin's speech was a nightmare, and I know the propaganda in Russia is working very intensely."

"But now the curtains came down, and everybody can see that this is a Russian invasion — it is a war between Ukraine and Russia," he added. "This is not a new war — it is an old war."