AVDIIVKA, Ukraine — On the eastern edge of Ukraine are scenes reminiscent of World War I.
Freezing troops peer through periscopes above deep trenches on the country’s front line at pro-Russian separatists, who are as little as 50 yards away. On Thursday, the trenches were muddy quagmires but are often frozen solid, offering little comfort from the inhospitable cold.
The military men and women in the eastern city of Avdiivka are on high alert as consternation over an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine spreads through Europe and beyond. Leave has been canceled and the troops are bracing themselves to spend the holidays huddled in the cold.
Lt. Ivan Skuratovsky, who enlisted in 2013, describes the current situation as a stalemate between the Ukrainian troops and the pro-Russian forces in the breakaway region of Donetsk.
“We have trenches with guys, they have trenches with guys,” the 30-year-old said. “If Russia starts a war, of course we will have casualties, and also they will have casualties.”
In addition to the long-running battles with separatists, the buildup of some 100,000 Russian troops along the Ukrainian border has alarmed Western leaders as they try to decipher Moscow's saber-rattling — is the Kremlin readying a devastating assault?
But front-line positions like this one are a reminder that the war was already well underway, and Ukrainian troops say they are now desperate not to give the Russians an excuse for further escalation.
