LUHANSK, Ukraine — Miles of recently dug trenches mar the frozen landscape of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, signs of the ongoing war here between separatists and Ukrainian government forces. Farm fields are torn up; on some strategic highways, bunkers surrounded by tank tracks and mortar holes stand as high as houses. Travelers passing through half-destroyed towns can occasionally glimpse gangs of ragtag workers, digging and hauling sandbags under armed guard.
Last July, one of those workers was Ruslan, 33, from Horlivka. After the militants who had taken over his town seized him outside his house, he spent 21 days …read more
Source: Foreign Policy
