"It is just before dawn, the December temperature a couple of degrees above freezing; time for troop rotations to start across Ukraine's 750 mile front. A crew of four from Da Vinci Wolves battalion are loading up into an M113 armoured personnel carrier at a secret location ready to be driven out to a safe point. From there they will walk to their position and remain on the front for 10 or 12 days."
"Once it was safest to deploy only in the dark, but now the growing number of Russian drones with thermal cameras, easily able to pick out a person from above, mean that it is probably safer to move during grey weather the gloomy and sometimes wet or foggy winter mornings on the Novopavlisky axis, a stretch of Ukraine's eastern front south-west of Pokrovsk."
At dawn in December, a four-person Da Vinci Wolves battalion crew loads into an M113 armoured personnel carrier to be driven to a safe point before walking to their frontline position. Crews typically remain on the front for 10–12 days, with cramped conditions and tense optimism. Growing numbers of Russian drones equipped with thermal cameras make night movements hazardous, prompting safer movement during grey, wet, or foggy mornings on the Novopavlisky axis. By daylight arrival, crews reach dugouts or basements to operate from. Personnel shortages and persistent aerial threats have extended frontline tour lengths compared with earlier, shorter rotations.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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