War

Тhe Ukrainian soldier warns me to speak no louder than a whisper. The enemy lines are less than 50 meters away, he tells me, and my voice — if too loud — can easily carry across no man’s land and invite gunfire from the other side. “We see each other, and we shoot at each other every day,” says the soldier, whose name is Mykhailo. “Everyone is afraid … we are afraid, and the Russians are afraid of us.” We’re standing at one end of a ruined factory on the outskirts of the city of Avdiivka in Ukraine’s eastern war…

Dozens of Ukrainian citizens originally from Afghanistan remain in the war-torn country, despite repeated pleas for evacuation. Ukrainians gathered near Hamid Karzai International airport in early September asking the Ukrainian president to evacuate them [Al Jazeera] Names marked with an asterisk* have been changed to protect identities. Abdul*, a Ukrainian citizen, is stuck in Khost, a large city in southeastern Afghanistan. As night falls, dogs bark in the background. But he is in no hurry to go to bed. He guards his house and family, embracing a gun, until morning. “Strangers wanted to get into my house. It is difficult…

Few countries have been willing to fly rescue missions into Afghanistan since the Americans left. Ukraine is an exception. It says it has a different definition of danger. KYIV, Ukraine — Before departing for Afghanistan, an elite team of Ukrainian troops gathered in a circle outside the airport and passed around a bottle of whiskey, a ritual meant to calm the nerves. It was early in the morning of Sept. 16, and the troops, members of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, known as the G.U.R., were about to embark on a daring plunge into the unknown: fly to Kabul and evacuate…