#Life #front #eastern #Ukraine
Kateryna never takes pictures with comrades before going to the front – that’s bad luck. Karina does not tell her mother that she is going to the front. Iana uses social media to boost morale at home.
On another day of war in eastern Ukraine, the three rest with their unit in a village before another rotation.
They agree to talk about their life on the frontlines of a war they didn’t expect, which lasted more than five months – and felt like years.
Kateryna Novakivska, 29, is a deputy commander of a unit in Donbass, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine where fighting is raging.
The 29-year-old comes from Vinnytsia in central Ukraine and had just graduated from a military academy when war broke out. Your task is to provide moral and psychological support to the troops.
After speaking about the “satisfactory” morale among the soldiers and the justice of the cause of Ukraine, she speaks more personally about life on the front lines.
“The worst thing for them is losing comrades,” she said.
For Kateryna, it means being able to distance herself from the soldiers’ horrifying stories.
“They talk to me more easily because there are many things they can’t say to their loved ones,” she said.
Their greatest fear is being left behind on the battlefield – dead or wounded.
She remembers one day, May 28, when 11 soldiers were killed and about 20 were missing. In the turmoil of war, some troops disappear and no one knows what happened to them.
Kateryna’s own biggest fear is being kidnapped by Russian soldiers, although she said she “planned for everything”.
She has a small scar on her nose – left by an explosion in March.
The lotus flower tattoo on her forearm is a reminder of her time in Volnovakha in 2017 – a town now on Russian-occupied territory that Kateryna said “no longer exists”.
– ‘Maintain morale’ –
Taking to social media, Iana Pazdrii plays with the stereotypes of being a soldier, showing off her perfectly manicured nails while driving an armored vehicle or clutching a Kalashnikov.
The 35-year-old has been fighting in Ukraine since the invasion began and, like all of her comrades, has not seen her child for five months.
“I volunteered because I’m a patriot and I felt I could be useful here, and I am,” said Iana, who speaks of the army as “of one family.”
Whenever she has time, she posts little insights into military life on Instagram or TikTok.
“Some soldiers have to live under zero line fire,” she said, using a term commonly used in Ukraine for the front line.
“I’m trying to show that despite everything, we keep the morality of telling people not to be afraid and that the army is doing everything it can to defend the country.
“But to be honest, sometimes it’s hard.”
Dozens of soldiers are killed every day on Ukraine’s eastern front, where Russian forces made great strides in May and June, capturing almost the entire Lugansk region.
Since then, the front line has barely moved, but ruthless artillery fighting between the two sides has intensified.
– ‘Line Zero’ –
Karina, a former textile worker of Tajik origin who joined the army in 2020 on a two-year contract, drives her armored vehicle back and forth along the front lines.
“When we’re in position, it’s hard to think about comrades, to hope that nobody will be killed or wounded, that you won’t be attacked yourself,” says the young woman, who is also a mechanic.
Her husband is longingly waiting for her at home – but she said: “Nobody tells me what to do”.
When Karina calls her mother, she says, “I don’t tell her I’m on line zero and she pretends to believe me.”
Karina has no illusions – she doesn’t believe that the war will be over any time soon.
“The Russians have already taken a lot of territory in Ukraine,” she said.
Her fellow contestant Iana insisted there was no choice but to win.
“Whatever happens, we will win. We have no right to lose,” she said.
After the war, Iana wants to travel to the Caribbean and South America.
“I have to fulfill my dreams. I think I deserve it,” she smiled.
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#Life #front #eastern #Ukraine
