u/Flimsy_Pudding1362

Kostiantynivka. The fighting is only intensifying. The commander-in-chief is not really sending any adequate reinforcements. Competent commanders are crying out about shortages of personnel and weapons. Everyone is improvising however they can. For example, during the day some troops fly aerial drones and burn enemy targets, and at night the same crew switches controllers and delivers supplies using UGVs.

Meanwhile, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi apparently sees no manpower shortage in the military at all. Even more than that, instead of fully manning and reinforcing combat brigades, he continues creating so-called “his own brigades.” After the appearance of the 150-series brigades (we all remember the scandals), now we have the 160-series. Some of the 160-series brigades are already fighting, while others are still being staffed. And, likely, 170-series brigades will soon appear as well. They are being formed by pulling personnel out of existing units.

And let’s not forget: despite the Presidential Office developing an algorithm for the fair distribution of mobilization resources, the commander-in-chief issued his own order on force staffing. The strangest thing is that just a month ago Syrskyi agreed there was a manpower shortage. But yesterday he was saying the opposite. Now he suddenly has enough personnel!

The media advisers who once sat in the Ministry of Defense and shouted about the counteroffensive from every corner should also rethink their media strategy and stop making people wear rose-colored glasses. Maybe it’s time to stop playing games with the public already????

“A 167th is now being formed under Syrskyi, and personnel are being pulled into it as much as possible,” an officer wrote to me yesterday.
An order was issued to his brigade to transfer people to the new unit being formed.

Today, Taras Chmut wrote that two mechanized brigades are being formed, while Come Back Alive declares it will not work with them.

“The Armed Forces plan to form 2 new mechanized brigades. Despite the total under-strength of two hundred other brigades. Despite a severe shortage of qualified commanders and sergeants. Despite the huge unmet need for weapons, drones, transport, UGVs, and other equipment. Despite numerous statements by various officials that this would not happen,” Chmut wrote.

“What is most painful is that you form a unit, build up forces, train people, and it can all go down the drain. When I’m told that personnel can simply be ‘stolen’, I lose motivation,” my interlocutor noted.

Well then, by the end of the year we may see the 170th brigades. Or maybe not. The General Staff, in order to slightly reduce public criticism, has found a new approach. Some new brigades are being “hidden” among existing numbers. Thus, the second new brigade will be designated No. 50. But it is not so easy to hide such an interesting topic 🤫

For several months I have been watching videos of strikes carried out by the Russian “Rubicon.” Purely for practical reasons – the chances of encountering their drone while operating in a combat zone are not zero, so it is useful to know how they fly. Below are my observations after watching well over a hundred videos.

The conclusions are based solely on publicly available videos and do not mean that everything written below is the ultimate truth.

• Z-propaganda complains that strikes against personnel are not a priority, but that is not true. From the Ukrainian side there are far fewer movements, but unfortunately there are still plenty of hits – precisely during movement in groups and individually;

• Increasingly, their drones are equipped with two cameras at once – day and thermal imaging. They fly both during the day and at night. Therefore, simply not moving and freezing is a bad idea. A silhouette will “glow” due to heat;

• When detecting positions, they often operate in pairs – strike + a “waiting drone” that stays on standby, expecting someone to run out. And the waiting drone can wait for a long time;

• They have started publishing a small number of FPV strike videos on radio control in deep rear areas. Ideally, it is now worth constantly driving with a drone detector switched on. Especially at night;

• Airstrikes are corrected using the same FPVs – that is, drone interceptors mostly do not allow reconnaissance drones to perform this role, but one indicator of KAB strikes is a “wing” in the area disappearing. The published videos are built around the principle of “where the bomb exploded – there is the UAV control point.” This is very doubtful, given the total destruction of frontline cities by such strikes;

• Vehicles are most often hit in the engine, the windshield between driver and passenger, and the roof between them when approached from behind. MRAPs are often hit in the driver’s position.

From observations, FPVs often quickly destroy abandoned vehicles by striking through open doors/ramps, setting them on fire from the inside (especially armored vehicles). Even during drone training (in the rear), I did not close the car doors – so what can be said about real combat conditions? On the other hand, with doors closed there is a higher chance that the vehicle will remain operational and the day will not turn into a foot march with an uncertain outcome. Hopefully, there will be no need to test it;

• “Molniya” drones systematically destroy all houses, based on the assumption that all houses without exception are “PVD,” i.e., temporary deployment points. This is especially active in the border areas of Sumy region. Sometimes a single UAV can fly into a multi-meter hangar – and that’s it. From the outside it looks like destruction for the sake of destruction;

• Since mid-April, “Rubicon” has started blurring the ground in videos of Ukrainian UAV shootdowns (reconnaissance drones have become fewer, while strike drones, especially Hornet, are noticeably more common). The blur likely makes it harder to identify areas where UAV interceptor crews are concentrated;

• For some time now, videos of interceptions of long-range Ukrainian Armed Forces strike UAVs (FP, “Liutyi,” etc.) have appeared, with speeds higher than reconnaissance aircraft – over the next few months this could significantly affect the success of deep strikes on Russian rear areas;

• Night bombers (Vampires, Peruns, Bats, etc.) are being shot down in enormous numbers. Either the “Rubicon” has enough night FPVs for continuous patrols, or tactical radars (for example, SKVP and similar systems) are covering certain sections of the front – since even small relay drones are being shot down;

• Otherwise, there are no changes – attempts to cut logistics, destroying antennas for UAV control, and so on.

Currently, the Russians are forming their unmanned systems units. So far, the public results of their operations resemble UAV platoons and companies. But in 4–6 months, the gray zone with a constant hum of unidentified UAVs overhead will expand both in density and in depth.

A high-profile incident in Chyhyryn district.

On 16.05.2026, in the territory of Chyhyryn district, employees of the TCC and SP stopped a vehicle driven by a volunteer, an active serviceman on rehabilitation, a war invalid (leg amputated), who has combat awards, an honorary weapon, a combat sergeant named Volodymyr. The vehicle also contained his wife and child.

The further events do not fit into any legal or simply human relations.

It was an attack by criminals on a veteran with his family. A field road, a group of individuals in camouflage, a pistol, a round in the chamber, pepper spray in the car cabin, death threats.
After a few minutes, a police crew arrived, apologies, an attempt to resolve the conflict.
Volodymyr did not object, but the TCC employee refused to communicate, left and locked himself in his vehicle.

The veteran community demands that the leadership of the Cherkasy region take this case under personal control and conduct daily briefings for notification groups in order to prevent such incidents.

Ulyana Kondratieva learned that her brother Yaroslav Mokrii had served in “Skelya” from a death notification. He did not stay long in the 425th Assault Regiment — he died after two weeks.

“Skelya” serviceman Vasyl Tsiurko lived even less after mobilization — nine days. Forensic experts recorded, among other things, broken ribs, bruises, abrasions, and blunt-force wounds on his body. The serviceman’s sister Tetiana Stefaniuk contacted “Skelya” and every possible law enforcement agency to find out under what circumstances her brother died. Police opened a case; the regiment did not respond.

The story of “Skelya” serviceman Vasyl Voichuk is similar — he died 11 days after mobilization. Volodymyr Voichuk was informed of his brother’s death almost a week later.

“Skelya” serviceman Vitalii Karat died in a hospital in Dnipro. His sister Olesia Piskunova managed to see her brother alive. He told her he was beaten constantly. Relatives appealed to law enforcement agencies to investigate Vitalii’s death.

At least five servicemen of the 425th Separate Assault Regiment “Skelya” from the Ivano-Frankivsk region — Vasyl Voichuk, Vasyl Tsiurko, Yaroslav Mokrii, Petro Danyltsiv, and Vitalii Karat — died in March 2026. Official causes of death listed in certificates were lung and heart diseases.

In this report, Suspilne correspondents gathered comments from all sides: relatives of the deceased servicemen, the Medical Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Office of the Military Ombudsman, police, the military prosecutor’s office in Dnipro, and “Skelya” itself, to determine what actually happened to the servicemen.

Vasyl Tsiurko

Vasyl Tsiurko died nine days after he was mobilized in the town of Yaremche in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. The serviceman’s sister, Tetiana Stefaniuk, said her brother was taken on the evening of February 24, 2026. He had no grounds for deferment.

“He had no phone or documents with him, so we did not know where they had taken him. The next day I started searching. By evening I found him at the TCC in Nadvirna,” Tetiana Stefaniuk recalls.

Vasyl never contacted his sister. A few days later the woman learned that her brother was in Dnipro serving in “Skelya.”

“We were told he had been beaten, was in bad condition, and that my brother needed help. We sent him clothes and a phone,” says Tetiana Stefaniuk.

Two days later the woman called that phone. Instead of her brother, another man answered.

“He said: ‘You can stop calling because he’ll still be in solitary confinement for two more days.’ As I understand it, he was given some punishment for something,” Tetiana Stefaniuk says.

This conversation took place on March 8, and on March 10 the family received news that Vasyl had died six days earlier.

“How were they handing over the package on March 8 if my brother had already been dead, and they said he still had two days in solitary confinement? Before that I repeatedly called the unit, said his sister was searching for him, sent his photo and information on WhatsApp. There was no communication, nobody answered me, nobody picked up the phone,” says Tetiana Stefaniuk.

After learning of her brother’s death, the woman contacted police.

“The investigator introduced himself: ‘I’m so-and-so, I responded to the body.’ I told him I had information that my brother had been beaten. He replied: ‘I do not have such information. I have information that he accompanied a stabilization brigade transporting wounded soldiers. He felt ill. They took him to hospital, where he died,’” Tetiana Stefaniuk says.

The causes of death listed in the medical certificate were acute cardiovascular failure and atherosclerotic heart disease. The forensic expert also diagnosed fatty hepatosis, broken ribs, bruises, abrasions, and blunt-force injuries.

“There are injuries to his legs, his face was badly damaged, and there were blunt-force wounds all over the body. The body was in horrific condition: beaten, tortured, brutalized. Of course, in that condition my brother could not have accompanied any brigade, because he could not breathe — his ribs were broken, everything was broken. And in the certificate, the place of death is not a hospital, not the unit. It’s unclear where and how it happened. That’s what alarmed us. Because they told us he died in hospital,” says Tetiana Stefaniuk.

The woman contacted the State Bureau of Investigation, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, and the military ombudsman. Her appeals were forwarded to the Office of the Prosecutor General. She also called and wrote to “Skelya” on WhatsApp, but received no reply.

Vasyl Tsiurko’s father and mother sent letters to the police in Dnipropetrovsk region demanding recognition as victims in the criminal proceedings regarding their son’s death. Several days later the letters were returned, so they sent their appeals by email.

In response to an information request sent by Suspilne to police in Dnipropetrovsk region, investigator Maksym Sidash stated that law enforcement had not received any statements or reports from the Tsiurko family.

He also stated that the Synelnykove district police department is investigating Vasyl Tsiurko’s death as murder. Proceedings were opened under Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In a response from the Dnipropetrovsk Specialized Defense Prosecutor’s Office, they confirmed procedural oversight of the case, but provided no further details regarding the circumstances of the serviceman’s death.

“I want there to be no more of these deaths. As I understand, my brother is not the first, but I hope he will be the last. There should be some logical conclusion, humane treatment of these people. If there is some violation, there is the Military Law Enforcement Service, not torture and killing like in our case. Because he was clearly tortured and killed,” concludes Tetiana Stefaniuk, sister of the deceased serviceman.

The family buried Vasyl Tsiurko. He was 41.

Yaroslav Mokrii

Ulyana Kondratieva buried her brother Yaroslav Mokrii — a “Skelya” serviceman — on March 16. He joined the assault regiment at the end of February 2026. Less than two weeks later he died in the unit.

The woman says her brother had poor health.

“He had suffered from tuberculosis for many years. He had major lung problems. My brother previously had disability status. The disease was cured. He regularly saw doctors, underwent examinations, and monitored his condition,” says Ulyana Kondratieva.

From December 2025, when Yaroslav was mobilized, he remained in the rear for more than two months, serving at the TCC, and contracted pneumonia.

“On February 26 he was summoned one last time to the TCC in Sniatyn. When my brother went there, they immediately switched off his phone. I never heard from him again,” continues Ulyana Kondratieva.

On March 3 Yaroslav Mokrii called her husband on Viber from an unknown number.

“The conversation was very short, as if someone was standing next to him. He only said not to worry, that they were feeding him. And then a few days later he was already dead,” says Ulyana Kondratieva.

Yaroslav Mokrii died on March 12, 2026, in a vehicle on the way to a hospital in the Novoukrainskyi district of Kirovohrad region. The cause of death listed in the forensic certificate issued to relatives was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Ulyana learned her brother had served in “Skelya” from the death notification.

“They called from the Zabolotiv settlement council and said he had died. They later brought us the notification. What can I say? Somehow this system is built incorrectly. They take sick people, fail to provide timely assistance, and these poor people die. It was not war that killed him, but the fact that every person in their place committed violations,” says Ulyana Kondratieva.

Yaroslav Mokrii was 53.

Vasyl Voichuk

Vasyl Voichuk from the village of Petriv was mobilized on his birthday — March 13, 2026.

“He never served in the army. Vasyl did not have good health. TCC officers from Horodenka arrived. They threw him into a van and took him away,” says his brother Volodymyr Voichuk.

On the evening of March 14, Vasyl called his brother and said he had passed the MMC — he had been declared fit for service. Volodymyr last spoke with his brother on March 17.

“Some stranger called on Viber and said Vasyl had ended up in the assault regiment ‘Skelya.’ He said he needed my bank card details so I could receive payments because Vasyl didn’t have his own card. My brother stood beside him, and that man gave him one minute to speak with me. I asked: where are you, what region? Vasyl said: ‘We’re not allowed to say that because it’s classified here,’” says Volodymyr Voichuk.

He recalls that Vasyl seemed anxious.

“I told that man: how did he even end up with you, especially in an assault regiment, if he never served and has no experience? My brother was not healthy even before service. And he said: ‘That’s how the TCC sends them to us. But we’ll check and assign everyone where needed,’” says Volodymyr Voichuk.

After that communication stopped — his brother’s phone was unreachable. A week later Volodymyr started calling the “Skelya” hotline. They told him his brother could only communicate via WhatsApp. The man installed the messenger but never received a call.

“On Sunday, March 29, the village head came to me and said Vasyl had died. The notification dated March 28 says: ‘Soldier Vasyl Vasylovych Voichuk died on March 24 while in Zaporizhzhia district as a result of illness.’ It also states: ‘The death is related to military service.’ Nobody informed us for five days,” says Volodymyr Voichuk.

On March 31 he traveled to Zaporizhzhia to collect his brother’s body. He was issued a medical death certificate stating that Vasyl Voichuk died in an ambulance from acute cardiopulmonary failure, with left pleural empyema listed beneath it.

“They brought him back beaten. I saw that his skull was shifted to one side from a blow from right to left. And his neck was blue,” says Volodymyr Voichuk.

He did not file complaints with law enforcement demanding an investigation into his brother’s death.

Vasyl Voichuk served in “Skelya” for seven days before dying. He was buried in the village of Petriv. He was 52.

Petro Danyltsiv

“Skelya” serviceman Petro Danyltsiv from the village of Pidluzhzhia died 36 days after mobilization. He was drafted by the Kosiv district TCC on February 3, 2026, village elder Yaryna Stoiko told Suspilne. The MMC diagnosed him with symptomatic hypertension and declared him fit for service.

The medical death certificate states that Petro Danyltsiv died on March 11, 2026, from atherosclerotic cardiosclerosis on the way to a medical facility in Novoukrainskyi district of Kirovohrad region. According to the forensic expert, acute heart failure caused his death.

Petro Danyltsiv was 52.

Vitalii Karat

On February 25 the Kolomyia district TCC mobilized Vitalii Karat. The family did not know where he was.

The story of his mobilization and death was recounted by his sister Olesia Piskunova in a Facebook post.

“A week later he called from some stranger’s number, saying he had two minutes to talk because there was a queue. He said they would later return their phones, but apparently nobody intended to return them — everything was taken away. He said he had not even undergone an MMC. He said he was in the 425th Regiment ‘Skelya,’” Olesia Piskunova wrote.

According to her, on March 11 Vitalii Karat called from another person’s phone and said he had been beaten and was in a hospital in Pavlohrad. He had difficulty speaking. The next day he was transferred to a medical facility in Dnipro.

“He begged us to come because he was in very bad condition. On March 13 I arrived. He was in extremely serious condition on oxygen support. He said they beat him constantly. And then on March 10 they beat him severely and threw him onto the bunks. Then in the morning they saw he was unwell and took him to hospital. He said they took everything from him. And his health. Only his passport remained beside him,” the post says.

On the morning of March 14, 2026, Vitalii Karat died.

A Suspilne correspondent contacted the serviceman’s relatives. At first they agreed to comment, but later refused on the advice of a lawyer.

How the Office of the Military Ombudsman and the Medical Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine commented on the deaths

In its request to the Office of the Military Ombudsman, Suspilne asked about the deaths of five servicemen from the Ivano-Frankivsk region: Vasyl Voichuk, Vasyl Tsiurko, Yaroslav Mokrii, Petro Danyltsiv, and Vitalii Karat. The response stated that the Office had received complaints concerning two of them.

“One was forwarded to the Territorial Directorate of the State Bureau of Investigation in Poltava. Another complaint was received on April 8, 2026,” the response says.

The Medical Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine refused to answer questions about the circumstances and causes of death of the five servicemen. Instead, they emphasized that during the period when the men died, there was a high incidence of acute respiratory viral infections both in the country and in the military.

“From January to March 2026 there was a seasonal increase in acute respiratory viral infections and related complications, which statistically does not differ from previous years both in Ukraine and in the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the response to Suspilne’s request states.

By April 2026 the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights had received 58 complaints concerning the 425th Regiment “Skelya.” This was reported to Suspilne by Tetiana Shelest, director of the information policy department of the ombudsman’s secretariat, in response to an information request.

She recommended that relatives of servicemen who suspect their loved ones may have died as a result of violence rather than combat contact the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

On May 18 Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, during the opening of the Human Rights Protection Center in Lviv, told Suspilne’s correspondent that a separate inspection had been sent to “Skelya,” and that a separate closed meeting had been initiated with the leadership of the 425th Regiment and representatives of the General Staff. According to him, two such meetings had already taken place.

“Regarding the monitoring, I do not want to publicly announce the results right now because we have developed urgent legal measures that were sent both to the direct leadership and to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We are awaiting a legal response,” Lubinets said.

“Skelya’s” response

In response to Suspilne’s information request, “Skelya” commander Yurii Harkavyi (military unit A4862) confirmed that the listed servicemen served in the regiment in the following positions:

• Soldier Yaroslav Mokrii — master of the 3rd interceptor UAV crew of the interceptor UAV platoon of the 1st assault battalion;
• Soldier Petro Danyltsiv — gunner of the deployment and evacuation means platoon of the 2nd reconnaissance company of the reconnaissance battalion;
• Soldier Vasyl Tsiurko — driver of the engineering-sapper section of the 2nd infantry battalion;
• Soldier Vasyl Voichuk — master of the 2nd strike UAV section of the 1st strike UAV platoon of the 1st strike UAV company of the 2nd unmanned systems battalion;
• Soldier Vitalii Karat — senior rifleman-flamethrower operator of the 1st assault section of the 2nd assault platoon of the 1st assault company of the 3rd assault battalion.

Regarding the causes and circumstances of the deaths, “Skelya” refused to respond, citing the Constitution, medical confidentiality, and restricted-access information:

“Due to the absence of legal grounds for disclosing information constituting medical confidentiality regarding the above-listed servicemen, military unit A4862 has no legal basis for providing the requested information.”

The response also stated that the regiment “Skelya” has no shortages of medicines or medical equipment for providing first aid and primary diagnostics.

Almost two months have passed since the relatives of the “Skelya” servicemen received news of their deaths. How and from what they died, whether attempts were made to save them, and why at least three of the servicemen had signs of beatings on their bodies — their relatives still have not received answers to these questions.

Baia Mare (Romania) – The forest in northern Romania is dense. We hear the loud rushing of a stream, woodpeckers are tapping, there are said to be bears here. All around are peaks still covered in snow. By the stream we see a fire pit that has long since gone cold. A few wet socks lie next to it, under a fir tree a pair of black sweatpants. We, the BILD reporters, are traveling in the Romanian Carpathians – along the escape route of Ukrainian men who want to avoid their deployment at the front.

Shortly afterward we learn: the clothes belong to Vasyl (26). He comes from Ukraine, which is only a few kilometers away. Across the border, over mountains, through bitter cold, he sought freedom. Now he is in the hospital. His dangerous and arduous escape almost cost him his life.

When the draft notice came, Vasyl ran away in panic

In his previous life, Vasyl was a mail carrier. He comes from Ivano-Frankivsk, a city in western Ukraine. About two months ago he received his call-up for military service – he was to go to the Russian front. He skipped the reporting date. Because the police were looking for him, Vasyl ran off in panic. On foot, heading south. Just out of Ukraine, far away from the war. But the arduous journey through the mountains completely exhausted him.

It was Good Friday, at the beginning of April, when Dan Benga (57) and his team found Vasyl by a stream. Benga is the head mountain rescuer in the Romanian forested Carpathians. He used to rescue hikers who got lost. Now it is also desperate men from Ukraine.

Benga reconstructs Vasyl’s story for BILD: “He was not alone, he was traveling with another man. The two crossed the border into Romania.” Then Vasyl’s condition worsened. His companion managed to get help in a village. Benga and his team were deployed, flying into the mountains by helicopter. When they found Vasyl in the forest, his body temperature had already dropped to 30 degrees Celsius. They evacuated him by helicopter. Vasyl was unconscious, completely exhausted, and in life-threatening hypothermia. “When they did the first blood tests, he had the values of a dead man,” Benga says.

Why many flee to Romania

The border police in northern Romania have been in constant alert since 2022. “Since the beginning of the war, about 32,000 Ukrainian men have entered Romania illegally,” says border guard Iulia Stan (45). What makes Romania attractive, Stan explains, is this: “As soon as Ukrainians arrive in Romania, they receive asylum and are allowed to stay in the EU. Here they are safe, they have nothing to fear. Most of them present themselves voluntarily.”

BILD analyzed internet forums in which Ukrainian men exchange advice on how best to flee their country. It shows why the Carpathians on the border are attractive for illegal crossings: they are poorly developed. Hardly any roads, hardly any people, hardly any surveillance.

Wanted: young men with hiking backpacks

Checkpoints in the hinterland are intended to prevent refugees from getting that far in the first place. Border guards are also stationed at train stations and bus stops to look for young men with hiking gear. As a result, many Ukrainians take hardly any equipment with them so as not to attract attention on their way to the border. Benga tells of men who cross the mountains in sneakers. But there are also those who are well prepared: backpacks sent ahead by post, professional equipment, thermal clothing, ultra-light tents and good navigation devices.

Danger lurks at every step

Benga gets into his jeep to show BILD the routes of the fleeing Ukrainians. Everywhere in the mountains there are traces of them: water bottles, instant soups, chocolate wrappers, cigarettes, clothing. Viroel (49), also a mountain rescuer, says they sometimes also find bolt cutters used to cut the barbed wire at the border.

The mountains are very dangerous, the rescuer reports. “One wrong step can mean your death.” Especially at night, when Ukrainians travel without light to avoid being detected. “But then they also don’t see ravines or crevices and get seriously injured.”

Benga heads toward a mountain ridge. The paths are so steep that only four-wheel drive can manage them. It is very cold, we are just below the snow line. The Ukraine is only two hundred meters away. The rescuer shows photos of men who did not make it. “Sometimes we find them frozen to death,” he says. On his screen are pictures of black, dead feet. “And recently we found a Ukrainian next to a river, dead. He had fallen into the water and got hypothermia. Next to him was his phone. He had tried to call his mother. But there is no network for miles.”

Since the beginning of the war, the mountain rescue service has had to respond nearly 400 times to rescue people in distress. At least 39 Ukrainians have died in the Romanian mountains.

BILD visits Vasyl in the hospital

Vasyl was not prepared for a mountain crossing and had only a sleeping bag with him. When BILD visits him in the hospital in the provincial capital Baia Mare, he has only been awake from a coma for six days. The day before, he ate on his own for the first time. “It was scrambled eggs with compote, tasty,” he says. His voice is weak and quiet.

“His first question was: What happened? And who will pay for this?” the nurse explains. She is visibly affected, holding Vasyl’s hand. “Many memories are gone,” Vasyl says. “Yesterday I talked to my mother. She now knows: I am free.”

Freedom has cost Vasyl dearly. Due to the cold, he has lost both kidneys. Now he has to be connected to a dialysis machine every two days for four hours. Only the day before he had a cardiac arrest. “What you see here,” says the nurse, “is the war.” She shakes her head sadly. “Maybe one day he will get a donor kidney,” the chief doctor explains. “But that can take years.”

Other Ukrainians rejoice: “We are out!”

On the way out, Benga shows a video. The border police sent it. Ten young Ukrainians are shouting with joy, laughing. They keep shouting: “We made it! We are out!” Benga says: “If this war ever ends, we will open a hiking trail. Through the forested Carpathians, from Romania into Ukraine. The Trail of Peace. In memory of all the Ukrainians who came over these mountains.”