(CNN) — About 500 meters away from the separatists backed by Russia, a group of Ukrainian soldiers awaits a fight that is surely to come.
And the men are strangely relaxed regarding it, according to photographer Timothy Fadek, who spent time with soldiers Friday on the front lines in Ukraine’s eastern Lugansk region.
“They have accepted the inevitability,” Fadek said. “I was talking to one of the soldiers and he said, ‘It’s unavoidable. We have accepted this inevitability of an attack.’ And then there was a little argument between two soldiers. One said: ‘The Russians will not cross the border, they will attack from the sea’, that is, the Sea of Azov. Another soldier disagreed with those estimates, saying: ‘No, the attack will come from Belarus.'”
But while they may not agree on the origin of an attack, they are all 100% convinced that it will happen.
“They have resigned themselves,” Fadek said. “But they are extremely relaxed. There is not a hint of nervousness on their faces. They are ready to fight. They have been ready for many years. They don’t want to. I asked them, ‘Do you want this war?’ And they said, ‘Of course not.'”
Tensions between Ukraine and Russia are at their highest in years, with a Russian troop buildup near the border raising fears Moscow might launch an invasion soon. The Kremlin plans to attack, arguing that NATO support for Ukraine is a growing threat to Russia’s western flank.
In Muratova, a Ukrainian town regarding a 20-minute drive from the front lines, people are much more nervous than the soldiers, Fadek said. But they too seem resigned to their fate.
When asked what he thought regarding the possibility of an attack, one farmer shrugged.
“It will happen,” he said, “but there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.”
A Ukrainian soldier points to a dog in a frontline trench. The dogs live in these trenches with the soldiers and provide an early warning once morest intruders. Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
A power plant is seen in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, not far from the front line of the conflict. Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
Ukrainian soldiers sitting in the back of a truck in Slov’yanoserbs’k. Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
Ukrainian soldiers guard their position in the trench. “One of the soldiers pointed to the horizon and said, ‘Do you see that mound? The terrorists are behind that mound,'” said photographer Timothy Fadek. “They refer to the separatists as terrorists.” Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
A look inside a Ukrainian trench at the front. Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
The Ukrainian soldiers Fadek spent time with on Friday were extremely relaxed, he said. “They have accepted the inevitability.” Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
A woman sells dried fish on the road leading to Kramatorsk on Thursday. Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
A Ukrainian soldier adjusts his balaclava on Friday. Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
Soldiers wait at their post at the front. Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
A soldier walks his dogs in a frontline trench. “I’ve been in the trenches many times before in the summer,” Fadek said. “This is the first time it was in winter. Visually, because the trenches and the landscape are covered in snow, it reminds me of the trenches in World War I. Cold misery.” Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN
