INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
dining car is packed with Russian soldiers
Some are heading to the front lines in Ukraine, where their country has been waging war for over two years, while others are returning home
Soviet war movie.His face shows small wounds, the result of diving face-down into a trench to escape a bomb dropped by a drone
As he sips samogon, a homemade vodka, he says he is a career soldier, with experience in the Russian Naval Infantry in Syria and now on the
of repercussions.Dima has many relatives in Ukraine, some of whom are fighting on the side of Kyiv
He shows a photo of her and their four children
His expression turns gloomy; he has not seen them in six months.Russian military on the frontline in Ukraine.Alexei Konovalov / TASSOpposite
He enlisted in the military as a volunteer after he had been told some of his relatives were killed by Ukrainian soldiers at the start of
the war.Today, his job is to manage anti-aircraft systems and plan offensives
another beer.Sometimes, Pavel finds himself in the difficult position of sending squads of men into an attack, well aware that their chances
soldiers are visibly drunk
A misunderstanding sparks a fight between Dima and another passenger; it seems they are about to come to blows, but then they calm down
soldiers describe the front line as hell on earth
The losses on the Russian side are enormous: hundreds each day, some of the men say
Drones sow death from the sky, finishing off wounded soldiers on the battlefield where they lay.Dima always keeps a grenade hanging from his
family man from the republic of Tatarstan, in one of the passenger compartments
Konovalov / TASSLast December, Yegor and his comrades were hiding inside a house on the Vuhledar front in the Donetsk region when a tank
discovered them and opened fire, wounding him in the leg
For the injury, he was compensated 3 million rubles ($33,500), which he used to buy a new house.Despite having shrapnel still lodged in his
One of the soldiers stands up and proposes a toast
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