A Ukrainian soldier looks out of a window of an apartment destroyed by shelling in the direction of Kostiantynivka.
Alex Nikitenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
There is a moment before the camera begins rolling when the young Ukrainian commander says, "History is repeating itself for us in the Donbas. Unfortunately." Then he falls silent.A few minutes later, the man, known by the call sign "Fleshka," takes a seat on a weight bench in the garden of a house in an eastern Ukrainian village, just a 30-minute drive from the nearest Russian troops. Every morning, he benches 80 kilograms here before returning to the screens where he coordinates the destruction of Russian assault units through the live feeds from his drone operators."I hope it will be a long fight. This is our land, and we will fight for every meter of it," Fleshka says once the camera is rolling. A few meters away stands his comrade "Sascha," another unit commander with the 33rd Brigade. "It's going to be a brutal meat grinder," he predicts, describing a bloody war of attrition. "But I'm glad to be part of it."Fleshka, 24, and Sascha, 26, belong to a new generation of young Ukrainian commanders helping lead the defense of the last Ukrainian-held bastions in the Donbas. Both have spent years fighting on the front lines. They were involved in the drawn-out Battle of Bakhmut in 2023 and later took part in Ukraine's offensive in Russia's Kursk region at the end of 2024. Today, each man is responsible for more than 80 soldiers serving in a combined drone-and-infantry unit.
