an estonian ship sank thursday east of here. its crew rescued with officials accusing russia of shelling it to act as cover for their landing ships. any hour now when the landing force could come irrevocably into view. odesa brims with locals ready, though, like so many here theepz civilian defenders don't want their whereabouts filmed but are happy to speak. zhennia is chief marketing officer for an i.t. company. he's traveled europe and africa but turned up to fight on day one. >> unfortunately, i have lost two two of my friends in kherson two days ago. >> reporter: i'm sorry. >> they also have been -- >> reporter: are they fighting in kherson? >> yeah, they were fighting. and they were in volunteer troop. so they have no military background at all. both of them are programmers. >> reporter: we're joined by