Gennady Daskal is no stranger to blood and guts. Until last month, the 27-year-old was working in an abattoir in central Ukraine, killing pigs and cows for a living. Now, after being conscripted, he is preparing to enter a very different kind of slaughterhouse. As part of a rookie infantry assault unit, he is being trained up for the Donbas frontline - the gruelling combat zone that many nickname the “meatgrinder”.
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“I got my draft papers, so here I am,” he told The Telegraph, as he practised shooting rifles and grenade launchers at a range in a Donbas clay-pit. “Of course I’m worried, because I know many guys who’ve died already - maybe ten or 20. But what can you do?”
Like other conscripts in the 22nd Mechanised Brigade, Mr Daskal tries to channel his inner-warrior. His callsign is Pitbull, and he flashes a cheery, gold-toothed grin. But asked about his wife and children back home, and suddenly he chokes with emotion. “Of course she’s worried,” he says, tears forming. “And the kids want me to come back as soon as possible.”
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16 май 2024
