Ukraine’s convicts take the fight inside Russia
A hard-bitten officer commands a unit of felons—and dreams of kebabs in Moscow
LAUGHTER CUTS through the crunch of gravel as Senior Lieutenant Nazariy Kishak’s jeep arrives. He is four hours late. “It was a shitstorm,” he says, grinning under his crooked boxer’s nose. “A column with 70 Chechens. All with Saint Peter now.” The enemy had been trying to cross the border just north of his unit’s new entry point into Russia.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Freedom on the line”
Europe August 17th 2024
From the August 17th 2024 edition
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