Kyiv, Ukraine – Vitalii, a 44-year-old Ukrainian electrical engineer with a neatly trimmed goatee and a penchant for clever jokes, recalls the terrifying moment he and five colleagues recently came under attack in the region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
They had finished a long day repairing damaged electricity lines along one of the region’s pockmarked and war-worn roads when they moved into an open field to hoist up a repaired electricity pole. It had barely been lodged into place before they heard the familiar crack of incoming Russian mortars that began to pummel the earth around them. They quickly realised that Russian troops must have seen the pole appear above the tree line and had unleashed a volley of shells in their direction.
