Ukraine's army, in the trenches and under fire as war grinds on

http://www.stripes.com/news/europe/ukraine-s-army-in-the-trenches-and-under-fire-as-war-grinds-on-1.363119

PISKY, Ukraine — The staccato of machine-gun fire begins at dusk, just as the sunflower fields here turn orange with the setting sun.

A Ukrainian army company of 110 soldiers defends the right flank of this largely deserted village, less than a mile outside of separatist-controlled Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, and close to the city's strategically key airport.

The unit — 7th company of the 93rd brigade — is headquartered in a partially destroyed two-story house known only as Point 18. In the front yard are Point 18's defenses, a series of trenches and firing positions that start at the house's garage and extend a hundred yards into the farmland beyond. The trenches are six feet deep and shored with felled birch trees and wood panels to keep them from turning into a morass when it rains.

"In May, the trenches were a meter deep," explained Sasha Bak, the 21-year-old company commander. "And after we lost a soldier to shelling, then we dug them deeper."

During the day, when the shelling is only sporadic, the company goes about improving Point 18's defenses. Some soldiers fill fertilizer bags with dirt and replace those damaged from the night before. Others dig the company's new living quarters — an underground dugout they will inhabit in the coming months. Point 18, Bak explains, cannot suffer many more direct hits before it collapses.

Now in its second year, the conflict in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 6,000 lives as government forces battle Russian-backed separatists; 7th company has lost 9 men and had 26 wounded this year — all since a cease-fire was signed in February and was almost immediately breached.