Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south 

AFTER TEN days in the trenches of Robotyne, Grisha is ready for a rest. “Time for sex, drugs and rock-and-roll,” he says, his voice still jittery from front-line adrenaline. The 36-year-old infantryman with Ukraine’s 65th brigade has just marched 7km from his position hauling 60kg of equipment, jammer aerials and a large battery pack—vital survival kit for anyone working in the drone-filled skies of Zaporizhia province. In 2023, during Ukraine’s failed counter-offensive, every square metre of this ground was the subject of world news. Now the Russians are pushing back, and far fewer are paying attention. “It’s happening,” Grisha says, his eyes looking into an imagined middle distance. “You can see it. They are coming—crawling, crawling, up and over, trying for any way through.”