US national intelligence director says Putin is preparing for a protracted conflict. Here’s what we know

Ukraine’s fierce resistance to the Russian invasion has resonated all over the world.

On the middle of that battle are strange residents who left behind snug lives to reply a name of obligation — individuals similar to a software program engineer, a logistics supervisor and even a poet.

The realm south of Izium is a key level of resistance towards Russian makes an attempt to fully encircle the Donbas area.

Most civilians have left, and the artillery battles are near-constant. These are among the individuals attempting to make sure it doesn’t fall into Russian fingers.

Anna Arhipova, 22

Anna Arhipova was a logistics supervisor in her hometown of Poltava, northeast Ukraine, earlier than the struggle started.

On the time, her overriding worry was not of the violence, however of “not being helpful,” she says. So she signed up, and now drives a pickup truck to among the most harmful areas of the battle.

In a world of bearded, stocky younger males, her slight body cuts an unusual determine. However she says it’s the boys, not her, who’re troubled by her presence.

“Everyone tells me that I’ve to offer start, prepare dinner, clear, and do the housekeeping, not be right here,” she says. “It irritates me very, very a lot. I reply that if I want to give start, I’d not be right here.”

Alex, 34

Alex, who wished to make use of solely his first identify out of privateness issues, is a software program engineer from Kharkiv. Final yr, he constructed his personal countryside log cabin.

Now his home, which was on a strategically positioned hill, has been diminished to a gap 5 meters deep, and he spends lots of his nights sleeping in a tank named ‘Bunny,’ which was stolen from the Russian navy within the opening weeks of the struggle.

“That is like my private tank,” he explains. “I’m like tank commander and tank proprietor,” he says with fun.

Vlad Sord, 27

Vlad Sord was nonetheless an adolescent when he signed as much as battle for Ukraine in 2014.

“Plenty of unusual issues occur there,” explains Sord, as he chain smokes cigarillos. “Issues that I couldn’t clarify, I collected them, compiled them, wrote them down.”

He’s now a printed creator and poet. He fights for his nation, and gathers materials to doc what’s taking place.

“I’ve an excellent reminiscence for the dialogues themselves and I take advantage of that. I write every part down.”