Ukrainian infantry soldiers undergo training exercises at a military barracks outside Dnipro, Ukraine, on October 24. “Morale officers” observe the soldiers, keeping them focused fight, solve any problems quickly and don’t let them fester inside. can be dangerous on the battlefield.
Franco Ordoñez/NPR
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Ukrainian infantry soldiers undergo training exercises at a military barracks outside Dnipro, Ukraine, on October 24. “Morale officers” observe the soldiers, keeping them focused fight, solve any problems quickly and don’t let them fester inside. can be dangerous on the battlefield.
Franco Ordoñez/NPR
DNIPRO, Ukraine — Lt Anton Pendukh says the trauma he experienced on the front lines of the war against Russia is much different from how he envisioned military life before joining Ukrainian forces.
Not that he didn’t know before that there were lives lost and there were sacrifices. But it’s much different, he says, when you’re living with it — and the losses include the friends you rely on and those who rely on you.
“When I see it with my own eyes,” he said, “it hurts my soul. I understand that this happens, but when I see it…”
He paused, looked down, and then took a deep breath.
“We won’t be the same, never,” he said. “Never.”
Ukrainian forces are physically and mentally exhausted after nine months of war.
The commanders said the force’s momentum and morale were the most important weapons in the fight to defend the homeland. But they were not immune to the physical and mental costs that weighed heavily on so many soldiers in battle.
Many Ukrainian forces have not been home for months – some have not since the war began in February.
Pendukh, 33, is at a training camp in eastern Ukraine, after several months of serving on the front lines. His battalion is expanding and they are training some new members – some of whom have never held a gun before.
Like many other soldiers, Pendukh is very motivated. His aim was clear: to liberate his homeland from the Russian occupiers. But the war took its toll on him.
Lieutenant Anton Pendukh, a morale officer, talks to comrades at a training camp outside Dnipro, Ukraine, on October 24. He says he’s tired, but has no choice but to fight.
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Lieutenant Anton Pendukh, a morale officer, talks to comrades at a training camp outside Dnipro, Ukraine, on October 24. He says he’s tired, but has no choice but to fight.
Franco Ordoñez/NPR
However, he still considers himself lucky. His battalion friends had served with teams that had lost more than half of their members.
“A lot of problems, even psychological ones,” he said. “Some people from those squads, they need psychological help after this. Psychological help is very serious.”
Pendukh does communications and logistics for the battalion. He’s also a full-fledged “spirit officer,” specially trained to spot signs of emotional distress and talk to coworkers about expected challenges.
Ukrainian commanders are turning to morale officers and psychologists to help keep soldiers’ morale up.
Lieutenant Anton Zolotaryov, a morale officer who joined Pendukh in battalion-level training at this camp in eastern Ukraine, worked to prepare soldiers for the mental hardships of a long battle.
They watch the soldiers, keep them focused on the fight, solve any problems quickly and don’t let them fester inside, which can be dangerous on the battlefield. Zolotaryov said that leaders and soldiers with low morale “can be poison.”
Low morale is contagious, explains Ludmila Volter, a psychologist with Soldiers Shelter, an aid group in Zaporizhzhia.
She said commanders called on her more to advise soldiers on the front lines as the war dragged on. She estimates that she has traveled across the front lines to meet more than 100 soldiers since the war began. Some one on one. And many in groups.
She says younger soldiers are less shy than older soldiers about talking to mental health professionals. They are more open. They shared details of panic attacks and even personal problems related to their family struggling without them at home.
But the biggest test Volter saw was the survivor’s guilt.
“That’s when your brother died and the soldier started condemning himself,” she said. ” ‘I was in the wrong place. I should have been.’ “
It can limit their will to fight, she said.
She says she tries to reassure the soldiers, explaining that there is only so much they can do and reminding them of their importance in the war.
Ukrainian infantry soldiers train at a military barracks outside Dnipro, Ukraine, October 24.
Franco Ordoñez/NPR
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Ukrainian infantry soldiers train at a military barracks outside Dnipro, Ukraine, October 24.
Franco Ordoñez/NPR
Major Roman Kovalev, head of the training battalion in the military barracks, said that the morale and motivation of his soldiers were just as important to success as the US-powered HIMARS, the rocket launchers. Long range helped turn the war in Ukraine’s favor.
And he understands very well that his military faces challenges — he has to face them too, he said.
To keep them motivated, Kovalev tells his soldiers what he tells himself in difficult times.
“I am telling them two things when it is really hard and you are really tired,” he says, “and that is to ask yourself: why are you here and for what reason?”
For Pendukh, the answer is his family.
He’s tired of living out of tents. He was tired of facing artillery fire every day. He misses his mother and her cooking.
He admitted to crying while eating the apple pie his mother had just sent him.
But he said it was even more difficult for his loved ones.
“The further away you are from the action, the scarier it feels,” he says.
An attack hit his own home – the Kiev apartment he shared with his girlfriend.
“She told me how she survived that attack. She helped people who were injured in those attacks,” he said.
He was grateful that she was not there at the time. But now he has no home to return to.
“So I’m getting angry,” he said. “I’m getting angrier every day.”
He insists that fighting for Ukraine, fighting for his loved ones helps him cope with his own challenges. Attacks on his country motivate him.
And that’s why he says he needs to be on the front lines. For him, at least, it’s therapeutic.
