19/ Georgy describes it as "A brand new building, the basement has sandy floors. They nailed together bunks, divided the space in half: for the 'good' ones, who could be re-educated, where I ended up, and for the 'bad' ones, who, as I understood, were not needed."
Full-scale invasion and national resilience, broadcasted live.
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Former Ukrainian border facility turned into Russian site of pain and terror
18/ The site is a former Ukrainian border service facility which President Zelensky visited in November 2020. It has now been repurposed by the Russian army as a place of pain and terror.
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Escapees shot by Russian helicopter near border, two killed
16/ A local man helped Georgy and three others to travel to a point near the border, which was sealed with a barbed-wire fence. While they were crossing it, a Russian helicopter spotted them and opened fire, killing two of the escapees.
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Emergency room becomes flophouse for soldiers needing shelter
15/ "They would arrive in the city, not have time to go to the store – they needed somewhere to spend the night. Some officers tried to help their soldiers, but not all of them – and the hospital’s emergency room was turned into a flophouse."
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Georgy escapes chaotic camp near Russian border
13/ Georgy managed to escape from the disorganised encampment and hitched a lift to Troitske in the northern Luhansk region, near the Russian border, which was equally chaotic.
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Brutal honesty: ‘You came here to die’ motivational speech
12/ "He lined everybody up and said: ‘You came here to die.’ At least he was honest. ‘If you want to go on holiday – 300‘, i.e. wounded, “if you want to go for good – 200”, i.e. killed,’ he said. That's the kind of motivational speech it was."
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Officers’ attitude revealed it was a one-way ticket, not combat units.
8/ "I immediately realized that this was a one-way ticket. Judging by the attitude of the officers, the command staff, it was clear that they weren’t considering us as a combat unit, as soldiers,…
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Description of their mission in the forest near Svatove
6/ He and his comrades were sent to a forest near Svatove in the Luhansk region, without raincoats or tools to chop wood for shelters. They bought supplies from local people at their own expense.
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Civil engineer mobilised to front-line Russian unit in Ukraine
3/ He had protested against being mobilised but was assured initially that he would be sent to a construction battalion, where his skills as a civil engineer would be valuable. Despite this, he was sent to a front-line Russian unit fighting in Ukraine in November 2022.
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Late autumn, rain, mud, destroyed villages, war ravaged the country.
5/ "Late autumn, rain, mud, muddy roads, destroyed villages, war passed over the land."