EXCLUSIVE: Snow was piling up and blizzard conditions were increasing as Anastasiya Koval, a Ukrainian-American, crossed into the recently liberated city of Kharkiv in early December while on a humanitarian mission to deliver aid to the front lines.
“I didn’t realize how big the city was. It was my first time there,” he described in an interview with Fox News Digital. “What really struck me was when we finally crossed the bridge where the Russian soldiers had entered the city.”
“There are these residential buildings, and you see the photos and you see the videos of these bombed residential buildings, but you can’t even imagine the scale of what was destroyed there. Hundreds of thousands and even millions of lives in a city that were completely destroyed.” he continued. “You’re driving 15 minutes in this area: all the buildings are bombed. Every one.”
Bombed residential buildings in Kharkiv, December 2022.
(Anastasiya Koval with Evil Cannot Enter Heaven)
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Koval was able to enter the city in relative safety after Ukrainian forces drove off Russian troops in September and continually pushed them eastward, taking the fighting to central Donetsk.
But the strikes have increasingly begun to target Kharkiv as Russia has once again ramped up its air campaigns while its forces bog down on the front lines, including earlier this month when Russia fired 76 missiles and drones in a single day in Ukraine’s second-largest city, taking out nine power facilities and leaving more than half of the city without power.
Despite significant battlefield successes in Ukraine in recent months, heavy fighting continues in the small town of Bakhmut, east of Donetsk, where trench warfare has become the norm.
Concerns like trench foot, frostbite, and gangrene have become a daily reality for soldiers dealing with the brutal conditions as winter approaches.
Koval, who was just 30 miles from Bakhmut, where some of the most brutal fighting takes place, said winter camouflage gear is at the top of soldiers’ wish lists.
Ukrainian servicemen seen outside of Donetsk, Ukraine, on January 31, 2022.
(Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Snow has begun to cover battlefields across Ukraine and changing weather conditions not only mean soldiers need winter gear like coats, boots, heated socks and sleeping bags, but they need protection against the latest weapon of choice for Russia: drones.
Drones are a relatively more affordable way for Moscow to wage war against Ukraine compared to other types of missile systems, and the Kremlin has increased its use of drones in recent months across the country.
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But troops on the front lines need more than air defenses to counter these weapon systems, Koval said.
“They can find them from the sky,” he said, explaining how drones are used to locate soldiers’ positions.
Koval described how camouflage covers, which act as windbreak-like covers and can fit into a backpack, are used to great effect to disguise soldiers and their equipment from their surroundings.
“It’s literally saving their lives, these camouflage covers, so they don’t get shot out of the sky,” he said.
More than a thousand missiles and rockets fired by Russian forces and collected by prosecutors for use in war crimes investigations are seen in a warehouse December 18, 2022 in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
(Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Koval has traveled to the Ukraine on several occasions to help his father deliver aid to troops on the front lines.
Ihor Koval, who was born in Ukraine and served in the Soviet Army before its disbandment in 1992 before moving to the US, has been in Ukraine delivering donated items to the front since the war began.
The effort, organized by a nonprofit organization created by the Kovals, Evil Cannot Enter Heaven, is a family affair.
“My grandmother and my grandmother’s sister spent hours shelling nuts,” he said, explaining how his family members still living in Ukraine have also done what they can to help the troops, including drying apples and giving them Coke. -Line. Salary readjustment. “The little things, you know.”
Koval said the support soldiers receive at home and abroad has helped keep their spirits up.
Volunteers Anastasiya and Ihor, with Evil Cannot Enter Heaven, delivering aid in Ukraine, December 2022.
(Anastasiya Koval with as Evil Cannot Enter Heaven)
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“They have this positive spirit, morale is high,” he said. “Mostly, I think because of all the people, not just the soldiers who are defending, but there are so many ordinary citizens who cook for them, trying to provide them with anything.
“It’s such a unified group effort,” he added.
