Finalist: ‘Always Under Fire:’ On the Battlefield With Ukraine’s Troops
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A soldier from the Ukrainian 110th Brigade, who was severely injured on the front line in Avdiivka, arriving at a medical point in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on November 12, 2023. Ukrainian forces have thwarted repeated Russian attempts to encircle the city, but with every wave of assaults comes a new flood of casualties. Just behind the soldiers fighting at the front are the combat medics whose job it is to keep them alive when they are wounded. “Of course, it’s getting harder,” said Oleksandr, 52, a medic at the medical stabilization point a few miles from the front. “We understand that it will be longer, harder and there will be more losses.”
‘Always Under Fire:’ On the Battlefield With Ukraine’s Troops
The war in Ukraine, now in its second year, has devastated the country. Rolling barrages of artillery strikes have cratered and pockmarked the hills and forests of eastern Ukraine. Hidden in the forests, an extensive underground network is Ukraine’s first line of defense and where its soldiers prepare for the fight ahead. In some places, Ukrainian forces are on the defensive. In others, they are on the offensive. Along much of the eastern front, they are simply fighting to hold the line against a daily barrage of shelling.
