A Globe photographer spent more than a month in Russian border regions near Ukraine. This member of the Akhmat Special Forces is in Kursk, parts of which had been occupied by Ukrainian troops last year.Goran Tomasevic/The Globe and Mail
These images, by Goran Tomasevic, provide a rare glimpse of Russian troops in combat.
The invading force is locked in a merciless battle of attrition that evokes images from the wars of a century before.
Mr. Tomasevic spent four days on the front lines with Russian soldiers who are fighting against Ukrainian forces in Donbas, Ukraine. And a total of 33 days in the border regions, documenting civilians and Russian soldiers, members of Akhmat Spetsnaz (Special Forces).
The area of Donbas where Mr. Tomasevic spent part of his time is in an area of Ukraine that U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested be ceded to Russia in any peace agreement.
The Globe undertook this assignment before the U.S. peace initiative was tabled, and it did so because we are committed to telling the fullest possible story of this years-long war. This is not to cast a blind eye to what Russia’s leadership stands for – its capture of journalists as hostages, its propaganda and its lies about Ukraine’s Nazification.
We have photographed what we saw.
Amid great risk from the ever-present threat of drones above, the safest conditions for the modern photojournalist is in the rain, hidden from the view of the killing camera above.
This project is home to the finest traditions of conflict photography: brave, independent and a record of the reality on the ground.
An eyewitness to war.
David Walmsley, Editor-in-chief
Explore the series, which includes segments about the drone war at the Russian border, the special forces unit The Globe captured and their field hospital in Donbas.