Fifty kilometers west of the Russian border in the eastern Ukrainian province of Luhansk, new recruits — eager to defend their country against pro-Russian separatist forces — are put through their paces. Photojournalist Filip Warwick, currently based in Ukraine, recently spent a week with them.
The training takes place in an ex-Soviet Youth Pioneer camp where generations of children once spent summer and winter holidays. Recruits have come from all parts of Ukraine, from the youngest at 20 years old (born in post-Soviet, independent Ukraine) to the oldest at 57 (once a Youth Pioneer participant himself).
An instructor explains the layout of …read more
Source: European Voice
