‘There were many of them, and the grass was tall’: 505 nights under Russian fire

Of all his 505 nights under near-constant Russian fire, this was one of the toughest for Ukrainian infantryman Yurii Melnyk. “Just when they stepped out, the three of them were killed by a drone,” says Mr. Melnyk. “It was nighttime, and five minutes later we saw five flashlights approaching our [previous] position,” says Mr. Melnyk. During their withdrawal they captured two Russian soldiers, then picked up three more Ukrainians in a dugout. Mr. Melnyk got his wish, when he returned home to the Kyiv region for a month, after his long stint under fire.