how the soldiers live in the trenches

“As you can see, we have electricity, WiFi and heating here,” says Dmitri, a Ukrainian soldier. He stands in a hole in the ground – dug in to protect himself from Russian attacks. All this is enough to be able to live here in the long term, he says in an ARD report. Dmitri and his comrades built the trench; a roof protects against rain and snow, heavy wooden beams stabilize the deep mound of earth, and beds are hidden behind a heavy iron door.

The trenches dug through the Ukrainian countryside, especially by the Russians, represent a new phase in the war. They are intended to delay combat operations and slow down the war. The withdrawal to the fortified defense positions should give the Russians a breathing space – also to bring new forces to the front, analyzes Carlo Masala from the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich.

Rain and snow turn the ditches into mud holes

Like Dmitri, thousands of soldiers live in ditches and protective burrows along the front lines. Anyone who uses their smartphone in hidden trenches runs the risk of being discovered. Nevertheless, videos are made public again and again. They show that not all of them have electricity, internet, heating and covered beds.

“This is how we serve,” says one man while filming the feet of another—shoes soaked in mud, feet wrapped in plastic, yet soaked. You can hear one of the two men saying that they stood like that in the mud for five days. They are Ukrainian soldiers.

A number of videos from the past few weeks show ditches and holes in the ground into which water has run – sometimes well above the height of the bootlegs. The “Rasputiza”, the notorious mud season, has turned entire areas into huge mud pits. And still not all areas along the front are below zero. They would freeze puddles and mud, making everyday life easier for the soldiers.

In southern oblasts like Kherson, temperatures are above freezing. Trenches that are uncovered and fully exposed to the elements fill with water. The feet of the soldiers threaten to rot after days of wet weather, while falling temperatures harbor the risk of frostbite. The conditions in the trenches are at best miserable for the soldiers, said military expert Justin Crump a few days ago BBC.

The winter in the trenches is tough, Ukrainian MP Lesia Wasilenko recently wrote on Twitter. The video the opposition politician encloses shows Ukrainian soldiers in a pit, half lying, half sitting – shoes, clothes and weapons covered and soaked in mud.

While videos of the Ukrainian positions along the front can be found on the Internet, little is known about the situation of the Russian soldiers. But compared to the Ukrainians, the Russian forces are considered to be significantly less equipped. Shoes, thermal underwear, rainproof clothing – all of this has been in short supply since the beginning of the war. That shouldn’t make the situation any easier given the current conditions.

“If you lie in a trench in winter, ten hours a day, and your clothes don’t keep you warm, it gets uncomfortable. Morale will then drop,” says political scientist and military expert Masala.

Telephone calls show the conditions of the Russian troops

How the Russian soldiers live along the front is only revealed by phone calls between them and their relatives, which are repeatedly intercepted by the Ukrainian secret service and the recordings of which are occasionally made public.

In the talks, soldiers complain about their poor equipment, the lack of sufficient food, and the severe losses suffered by Russian troops. A soldier reports: “We haven’t slept in four days.” “Why?” asks a female voice, most likely his mother’s. “Because of the water, there’s water everywhere, we’re soaked.”

All this is bearable only with alcohol. “Drink is the only thing you can do,” says the Russian soldier.