Ukraine is digging in as the Kremlin steps up its offensive

The sunken faces that peer from behind battered fences are aged, whether or not the bodies that carry them are old. Russia, eight kilometres away, isn’t hiding. In the past 24 hours, three guided bombs landed in the village, with two of them exploding to devastating effect. Everyone here is in waiting mode. Oleh, the officer in charge of constructing a new network of fortifications on the outskirts of the village, shouts back a warning. “If you hear a whistle, you’ve got a few seconds to drop down on the floor. And hope for the best.”