In the basement of this disused building, about ten kilometers from Donetsk, rest soldiers who have just returned from the fighting. “Last night, we had two wounded, two friends on the front line”says Andreï while drinking a coffee in the dark, in the middle of comrades asleep in their sleeping bags. “The fighting is getting more and more violent. Every day they try to break through our lines of defense, but they can’t.”
They are five kilometers from the front line of Avdivka, a new target for Russian forces, a separatist stronghold supported by the Russians, while Moscow has announced that it wants to take the “full control of Donbass and southern Ukraine”.
These soldiers have settled in this former factory, where everyone participates in community life. Ivan, 40, originally from Cherkassy, has made himself chef-cook and prepares a borcht, a Ukrainian soup. “I make war and I cook. This war is stupid. We are only defending ourselves. They are the ones who attacked us.”
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Yuri, a blue and yellow sticker on his Kalashnikov, is one of the very first to join this regiment. “We didn’t come here on vacation, but to defend Ukraine. I’ve been here for two months and haven’t seen my family”says the 39-year-old soldier.
He is angry with the Ukrainian separatists supported by Moscow, who crystallize the anger of the soldiers. “What I think is that opposite, the pro-Russian separatists are traitorshe lets go. They are fighting against us Ukrainians. These separatists have no place in this country.” But for Stanislav, 49, they are first and foremost the victims of Russian propaganda. “The Russian Federation brainwashed them well. It was very effective. Moscow indoctrinated them well.”
These soldiers assure that they will continue to resist fiercely the assault attempts of the Russian forces, well aware that the integrity of Ukraine is at stake.