Editor's note: The full names of the soldiers introduced in the story are not disclosed due to security concerns amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. DONETSK OBLAST – As artillery began pounding the cold-hardened ground ahead of them, two Ukrainian soldiers listened warily to shell impacts creep closer. They were squeezed together in a roughly dug hole no deeper than half a meter, in a meager defensive position on the front line north of Avdiivka – an embattled city just outside Russian-occup...
