Paris, February 14, 2024

Dear readers,

My school friend O. is still at the front. He's now head of his unit. We only have brief exchanges; he answers me when he can, and that's rare. Apparently, the internet connection is very bad at "ground zero" – the hottest point on the front. I told him you'd be interested to know more about his living conditions, those of a basic Ukrainian soldier, 3,000 kilometers from home. Sometimes I ask him silly questions like, "Where are you sleeping tonight?" "Are you warm?" I got some answers with a photo: a plastic bottle with a big lump of ice inside. The image was accompanied by this caption: "It stayed by my sleeping bag last night."

As I understand it, when they receive a combat order, soldiers go to the position at "ground zero" and can stay there for up to five days before returning to the rear, to their base, where they then have the same number of rest days. As O. and his unit currently have no combat orders, they've set up camp in a forest at -15°C. It seems unimaginable to me. Especially as it can last for weeks or months. They also sometimes sleep in empty, abandoned houses, which they do up a bit.

O. tells me that the most complicated thing for them when they're at "ground zero" is food. Everything they have there, they have to carry themselves. The first time, he had 84 kilos on his back. Since then, he's taken only what's necessary, in other words almost nothing, except Snickers chocolate bars, which are very fatty and high in protein. "It keeps me going without weighing me down," he wrote to me. And he added: "Not to lie to you, there are no toilets there, so I prefer not to eat too much, I don't want to become a 200 with my pants down" – a "200," in military code, is a dead man.

They are sometimes forced to stay at "ground zero" for longer than planned if they are being attacked and cannot leave their position. O. told me that, recently, his unit had been stuck for several days. The rachists [a contraction of "Russians" and "fascists"] were firing non-stop. He listed at least six types of weapons the Russians used, while they only had a machine gun to defend themselves. It's scary. I so hope this letter will be read by someone who has any decision-making power on sending weapons to Ukraine.

In a video, my old classmate also shares a funny moment: He's on a swing painted yellow and blue, in the middle of nowhere. Everything is covered in snow. He's laughing with a colleague. We can hear the gunfire in the distance. O. also tells me that there are still a few people at the front who have nothing left to live on. Ukrainian soldiers are bringing them food.

You have 64.34% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.