FROM THE FRONT LINE
Life in the trenches: ‘Waves of Russians go over the top — they’re just cannon fodder’
In scenes recalling the First World War, Ukraine’s troops are calf-deep in the mud, digging yet more defences and repelling the Kremlin conscripts sent into no man’s land
Sokil, 29, of the national guard, mans an observation point in a trench network in the Kharkiv region
OLIVER MARSDEN FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES
The Sunday Times
The Ukrainian fighters stood calf-deep in the mud, peering over the lip of a 6ft trench they had hacked into the forest three miles from the Russian border. It was around 11am and the temperature had already hit five degrees, which, they all agreed, was far too warm.
They were hoping for a cold snap that would freeze the ground hard.
For now, the mud was everywhere: in their boots, on their hands, on the floors in the dugouts. Sticky and thick, sucking around their boots. Without noticing, during the three months they’d been dug in there, the soldiers had perfected a duck-footed amble that kept them upright even when the mud rose to their knees.
Private Misha, 35, warms himself with a stove
OLIVER MARSDEN FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES
Across Ukraine, from the north to the east and
