LatestAlyssa GoodmanMarch 01, 2022Mstyslav Chernov, Russia-Ukraine warComment

Ukraine's far east falls back in time, into survival mode

LatestAlyssa GoodmanMarch 01, 2022Mstyslav Chernov, Russia-Ukraine warComment

The soldier peered through a periscope from the bottom of his trench. Mud seeped into his boots, his clothes and into every available crack in his gear as he walked the narrow space where he spends his day.

Were it not for Zakhar Leshchyshyn's mobile phone, his life in the trenches would be little different from that of a soldier a century ago. The screen lets his mind wander away from Zolote, a town in eastern Ukraine on the contact line between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists.

Trees line a road to the frontline villageTrees line a road to the frontline village of Novognativka, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov) of Novognativka, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

"Another explosion in Luhansk. It’s reported that the explosion happened at a gas pipeline. It was seen and heard almost everywhere in the city,” he read aloud.

Trenches, mines and artillery are hardly the stuff of modern warfare, but Ukraine’s far east feels like it is falling further behind modern life by the day. Like other towns in the region, Zolote has stepped out of time.

Electric lines lose their current and twist at crazy angles after artillery strikes. People wistfully remember their last hot shower, the last time they read themselves to sleep by the light of a bedside lamp.

Ukrainian servicemen stand in a shelter listening to the sound of shelling at the frontline positions near Zolote, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

A Ukrainian serviceman stands in a shelter at a position at the line of separation between Ukraine-held territory and rebel-held territory near Zolote, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

A grenade lies in a box in the trench at the Ukrainian frontline positions near Zolote, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

Mud and snow cover a trench at the Ukrainian frontline positions near Zolote, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

Leshchyshyn's world is circumscribed by the labyrinth of trenches he commands. Roots poke out along the walls of the trench, but they're not enough to hold up the mud when a shell explodes nearby.

He and his soldiers fortify the crumbling walls using hand shovels. When they return to their basement barracks in a house with no roof, the same shovels scrape the congealed mud from their boots. When night falls, the village is dark and quiet enough that Leshushun's men and the separatists sometimes shout curses at each other from their respective trenches.

He is pessimistic about the days to come. Ukraine's military has started to send tanks farther east, and the forests that line the region's dark roads are filling with camouflaged machinery and bivouacs.

"If there is no political agreement, things will get resolved with military power,” he said.