‘Friends die in your arms,’ says a Ukrainian war student-turned-soldier.

Maxsym Lutsyk appears older and more serious, with fewer jokes than when I last saw him in the days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 19-year-old had just dropped out of university and volunteered to fight.

He made a difficult journey out of the Donbas front line last week, taking back roads at night to avoid artillery fire, pick up supplies for his unit, and tell me about his experiences fighting the Russians.

We met in Bakhmut, a small town well within Russian artillery range. Some of its buildings are in ruins, and the city has been nearly depopulated.

Maxsym and his comrades had fought for three weeks to keep control of a position they named Serber after a small dog they had adopted. It was in a demolished former factory in Rubizhne, a town that was eventually taken over by the Russians.

“It felt like hell. There were no good defensive positions. We’d spent time in trenches, Soviet-era shelters, and a fire station.”

According to him, his unit was targeted by tank fire approximately 25 times per day.

“One of my friends was killed there, and maybe ten or fifteen guys were seriously injured.”

Enrollment of a student

Now that summer is almost here and Ukraine’s fertile black soil is bursting with life, the bloodiest fighting is taking place in Donbas. Russia’s generals are taking notes.