IRPIN, Ukraine — Jackson is a singer. So, even though he was standing in a trench in this suburb northwest of Kyiv, even though a massive column of Russian soldiers and weaponry lay just a mile or so up the main road, it didn't take much prompting from his friends in his Ukrainian army unit to goad him into song.
He laughed, leaned back, looked away for a moment and — just when it seemed he wasn't going to do anything at all — launched into a creditable rendition of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good":
Birds flying high, you know how I feel
