For 204 days, two Ukrainian infantrymen held a front-line position in the kill zone – under constant Russian drone surveillance and artillery fire. They survived by relying on each other and adapting to a battlefield where drones made even the simplest tasks life-threatening.

In this interview, the Kyiv Independent’s Kateryna Hodunova speaks with “Khvoryi,” a soldier in Ukraine’s 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade “Kholodnyi Yar,” about what it takes to survive for more than six months at a combat position. He describes fighting off FPV drones, repelling Russian soldiers, retrieving supplies under constant surveillance, coping with the psychological strain of isolation, and maintaining the small routines that kept him and his comrade going.

Watch here.