In Ukraine’s East, Fears Grow of New Russian Power Play

AVDIIVKA, Ukraine—Arthur Volodymyrovych ducked his head down as he walked alongside the bottom of a trench final week, hoping to stay away from sniper fireplace from Russia-backed separatists positioned a lot less than 900 toes away.

He has been stationed below as a soldier with Ukraine’s armed forces for five months—the trenches for far for a longer time.

The procedures of engagement are easy.

“When they assault us with fireplace, we react with fireplace. And so it goes on,” claimed Mr. Volodymyrovych, whose unit’s sleeve patch reads, “Ukraine or Death,” emblazoned about a skull. “I really don’t see an conclusion to this war shortly,” he claimed.

Seven several years back, professional-Russia separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine declared their independence, backed and armed by Moscow, which also seized the Crimean peninsula.