How A Military Draft Changes Your Life In Ukraine Forever

A sales representative, a student, a welder... A year ago no one expected that there would be a war in Ukraine, to live for months under shelling or that they would lose their colleagues. These soldiers spent half a year at a position south of Luhansk and before that several months defending Debaltseve and Vuhlehirs'k. The most intense fighting happened right where the 13th Infantry Battalion were positioned.
When Hromadske journalists visited the 13th Battalion some of them wanted to publicly ask President Poroshenko to fulfill his promise to rotate those who had fought in the battle for Debaltseve. They also brought up the fact that many of them are still waiting for demobilization, otherwise they might lose their jobs back home. Several members of the battalion pointed out that with the current military equipment – which is mostly designed for transporting trucks rather than active combat – fighting an effective war was impossible.
This reportage shows the conditions in which the soldiers who fought in Debaltseve and Vuhlehirs'k. Has the army learnt anything since the war started? What should the people who are being mobilized now be aware of? What is the most important and most difficult for those fighting to defend Ukraine? For those who before the war couldn't have had an idea of what it was going to entail?
// Bohdan Kutiepov and Nataliya Gumenyuk. Filmed in April, 2015