Most have no combat experience, but are already on the front in Ukraine and encounter death, injuries, despair. Many Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted and traumatized. How do they survive the brutal war that changes them forever.
The field camp in the Donbas forests has two purposes - it temporarily withdraws soldiers from the front line for rest, and it also trains those who have been recently mobilized.
Denis Lozinsky, who is also at the camp, previously worked for a telecommunications company, and now provides psychological assistance to new recruits. This is a serious task, he points out, "because the men have to be prepared to go to war in a short time." Most of them have no combat experience; the day before, they were still at home, and now they are in the camp near the front.
For many, mobilization, especially in its first weeks, is a real shock, ARD writes. They ask themselves: "Why me? Why not someone else?", Lozinski explains to the German public media. He advises them to get used to it and use the short time to prepare for the front to learn as much as possible. "The preparation time in which people have to prepare for the front is really very short," he comments.
Be aware of the mortal danger
The situation on the front in Donbas is particularly difficult. Russia is advancing slowly and with very heavy losses, but it is still attacking. The number of victims on the Ukrainian side is also high, soldiers from the attacked side tell ARD. Everyone in the field camp is aware of this. No one says they joined the army voluntarily - they were taken straight from the street.
This is exactly what happened to 41-year-old Dmytro, who until recently worked as a crane operator in Zaporozhye. According to him, the instructors at the camp are good and have extensive combat experience. But he emphasizes: “We were civilians, all this is new to us and we can't understand everything right away, although we are trying“.
Dmytro doesn't know where he will be sent after the training ends. Most of the men in the camp, however, will soon have to fight on the front lines, only some will be responsible for operating drones.
New equipment brings advantages
The nearby city of Kramatorsk is under constant fire - Russian units are attacking it with drones, missiles and aerial bombs. Viktor and his unit have settled in a basement, where they are repairing and improving drones, preparing them for their comrades on the front.
“You could say that the war in Ukraine has become a war of technology“, Viktor tells ARD. “The one who has more technology, resources and means can carry out certain special operations, which brings a significant advantage on the front.“
Russia is a strong enemy. Just one day without improving the equipment can lead to the Russian soldiers gaining an advantage, Viktor also tells the German media. Just seven months ago, he worked as an electrician. His job is similar now, but the pressure is much greater: "Because you are aware that you are doing things that affect the lives and activities of the pilots on the front line." Even the smallest mistake can be fatal for his comrades. "After a mistake, I inevitably get a wave of emotions, because I think it was all my fault."
Besieged, no prospect of immediate help
Dmitry and Denis, for their part, emphasize how important it is for the equipment to function. The two of them were on the front line for 130 days - more than four months. The Russian soldiers surrounded them, and their commander announced over the radio that he could not get them out of the siege. They had to hold out for a month or two until the drone pilots managed to clear an evacuation corridor for them. "During that time, I missed my family very much," Denis told ARD. He thought about only one thing - to survive and return home.
And Dmitry says that he kept thinking about his parents, his sisters and brothers. During those 130 days in the trenches, the soldiers supported each other, did not despair, and each supported the other.
The trauma of the experience
The workday of the two of them is still not calm today. Denis is responsible for operating a ground-based delivery robot, but sometimes the robot has to pick up the body of a soldier who has fallen in battle. This becomes necessary when the constant shelling makes it impossible to reach the dead man.
Denis is grateful that he did not have to experience the death of a close comrade from close quarters, but once two dead Russians lay very close to him. The man says that the war changed him forever - as it has hundreds of thousands of other soldiers.
Denis, like the drone pilot Andriy, hope for help from the West, but at the same time wonder why it is not enough and is taking so long. “Too many good people, friends and comrades have died in this war. The war has been going on for too long. I don't understand why all the countries don't come together and say – enough! Something like this cannot happen in Europe in 2026. This is madness“, says Andriy.
Western partners should think about this, he believes: “Because if it ends with us, it will start somewhere else. And there will be no peace. The Russians don't want peace, they don't need it“.
"This helps you endure"
A few kilometers west of the front, in a field camp, the men are trying to preserve a bit of their old routine. In one of the tents, Yevhen is cutting their hair. He is the commander of a reconnaissance unit, and before Russia's aggression he was a hairdresser. Today it is his hobby and an opportunity for a temporary return to normality. “This helps me to distract myself“, says Yevhen, who has been in the army for three years. “These are the little things that help you endure,“ says Ivan, sitting next to him.
Four years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the end of the war is still not in sight. Many soldiers are tired, exhausted and traumatized. There is almost no real rotation and no opportunity for rest. But they do not give up the fight - in the camps, in the basements, at the front. And they keep repeating that if they stop defending their country, they themselves will cease to exist.