The soldiers' leave ended in darkness, on a platform at Kyiv station. It was 6:30 am and clusters of men in military uniform were crammed into the carriages of the Intercity train bound for Kramatorsk, an industrial center that has become Ukraine's main rear base on the Donbas front. Few relatives accompanied the soldiers at this early hour. One boy furtively wiped away a tear as he watched his father climb the steps onto the train, but the emotion was mostly contained on the faces of onlookers. Civilians and soldiers alike still seemed numb from sleep.

Modern and comfortable, the South Korean-made train has been shuttling between Kyiv and the Donbas since 2012. The government purchased it at a significant cost to transport fans during Euro 2012. Previously, its terminus was Donetsk, a city occupied by the Russian army since 2014 and annexed in 2022 following Moscow's invasion.

On August 24, half the passengers on the packed train were civilians, the rest soldiers. Some of the men wore prosthetics – another trace of the war that is now frequently seen at the rear base. But although the train was hurtling towards hell at 120 kilometers per hour, the atmosphere was as peaceful and sleepy as an early-morning Paris-Bordeaux train ride.

'My first leave in a year and a half'

Petro, a short, lean man of 50, with blond hair and blue eyes, stood alone, gazing at the landscape through the window. Like the other soldiers, he removed his name tag and that of his unit from his chest and shoulders – a staff directive for soldiers traveling across the country. "I've just come back from my first leave in a year and a half of war," explained Petro, initially a little wary. "Normally, we're entitled to 30 days a year. I had to make do with 10 days at home with my wife," he said in a broken voice, searching for words.

The smell of alcohol around him betrayed a night of heavy drinking. "We can't really leave the front – what happens then? There aren't enough men. Nobody wants to fight on the Bakhmut side, except the crazy ones like me," Petro continued, frequently pointing to his temple with his index finger. "I went as a volunteer. I had no choice. If we don't stop these [Russians], they'll come back to Kyiv and continue what they did in Bucha. My wife thinks I'm crazy! People in Kyiv don't realize. For them, war is something you see on TV. They don't want to talk about it or listen to us. They want reassuring news, not horror stories." He laughed. "I'd forgotten that today is Independence Day."

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